With Starshine in her Eyes
by Breezy Days
Summary: When Andi first moved to the neighborhood, she was lonely. But that all changed when she met Benny. Rated T for some mild language.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Hi, all! I just have a few things to mention before I carry on with the story. First off, this is my first fanfiction ever. I never thought my first fanfiction would be a Sandlot one but so far, I've had a blast writing this. I hope everyone that reads this will enjoy it and here are the things you'll all need to know about what I've done with it.

First off, this basically follows the plot of the movie, except that I've placed my own character into the story this time. Also, I've changed everyone ages, so this is the summer before their first year at high school. Last thing to know is that, for convenience, Smalls moves to town on the last day of school.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all enjoy. Reviews are gratefully eaten up.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "The Sandlot," or it's characters.

With Starshine in her Eyes

Introduction

"Girls can't play baseball!"

Two hands shoved me into the dirt and I winced in pain as I felt the tan flesh on my elbows rip. I had watched in wonder as red rose to the surface of my wounds. I thought about how it was my blood, smeared on the dirt around me and how much it hurt. But I didn't cry. I _refused_ to cry in front of these boys. Instead, I glared up at their leader. With sandy hair and a narrow face, this was a boy I would despise for the rest of my childhood days. Tyler Phillips.

He wouldn't let me play on their diamond. He wouldn't let me join their little league team, the one that allowed passage later in their baseball career to the team, the Tigers. I figured it was because he was intimidated. He was afraid of me. Even though I was just seven years old at the time, I could still pitch harder than him. I could run faster than him. I could even hit more accurately. And I'll bet it hurt his pride knowing that a girl was better than him. Granted, I knew nothing about him or where he was coming from, but as a child, it was easy to make quick judgements and stick to 'em.

Before leaving me where I lay, Phillips and his team took one last look at me and laughed. And then they were off, riding those stupid, rich kid bicycles. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. In fact, we had never had much of anything. Dad was a writer, or at least, trying to be one. Mom was a waitress. They didn't make much, and it was hard for them to to keep the family afloat, what with raising three kids and all. But mom never worried about it. She called it an adventure.

Mom had died a few months earlier. It was why we had moved here, to Los Angeles. And so much had changed. Being without a mother was the obvious change but it was also the hardest. In moving, I had left all my friends behind. Todd and Jimmy had to look for work so that they could help dad rake in money. No one had any time for me. There was no more time for our family passion, baseball. I was lonely.

Maybe that was why I had tried to join the little league team. It would have solved everything. I should have realized though that Phillips wouldn't want a girl on the same team as him. It would be easier for me if I would just make friends with some of the girls in town. But I would get so bored. They didn't like to play in the mud or catch worms. Most of them were already trying to act like 'little ladies.' More importantly, they didn't like baseball. I wasn't very girly, but I wasn't necessarily a tom boy either. I was just myself. So where would I ever fit in?

Feeling the hot tears bubble to the surface, I had quickly tried to wipe them away. My elbows hurt but the blood had dried. I pushed myself back onto my feet and brushed some of the dust from my jeans while still fighting the tears. I had turned my head just the right amount and I saw _him_.

It was a dark haired boy, standing behind a chain link fence. He was staring out across the baseball diamond with large hazel eyes that were flanked by thick lashes. But he hadn't been focused on the grandeur of the diamond. His beautiful hazel eyes had been focused right on me.

I rubbed my sore elbow, wondering how long he had been standing there. Had he seen me pushed to the ground by the other boys? They were probably his friends. Without a second thought, I glared as hard as I could before pinching up my nose and sticking out my tongue at him. I then proceeded to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction, towards the sunset. Towards home. And not once had I looked back at the odd boy behind the chain link fence.

~*~

The next day, I sat out on the front porch steps, itching at the bandaids on either of my elbows. I hated bandaids but my dad had insisted on them. So I agreed. I was staring hard at the ground. A poor, unfortunate ant came strolling up towards me and I glared at it. I had suspected that if I glared at it long enough, it's head would melt. I had heard a door across the street open and then slam shut but I was so preoccupied by the melting job at hand that I didn't even look up.

I heard footsteps getting closer but I still didn't move my eyes from the ant. Not until a pair of all black converse stepped into my line of vision. I glared up at the intruder, only to realize that I was gazing, once again, into two large hazel eyes. It was the boy. I noticed the baseball mitt in his hand automatically. He smiled down at me, a little nervous and I noticed that his teeth were a bit crooked. They would straighten out with time.

"Hi," he greeted me, shyly. I only glared at him.

"You were at the diamond yesterday," I said slowly. "Are you with those richie-rich kids or somethin'?"

"Phillips?" He asked, his big eyes widening even more. "No, no! He's a jerk!" The boy shook his head vigorously, messing up his already messy black hair. He shook his head so hard, I had thought he might damage his scrawny form. I looked down and thought about it for a moment.

"Then how come you were there?"

"I... I like to watch sometimes," he admitted sheepishly. He looked down and peered at me from under long, dark eyelashes. "I saw you play."

I glared before snorting. "Yeah, and what of it? Just 'cause I'm a girl don't mean I can't play."

"I didn't say that!" He said hurriedly. "I thought you were really good. And.. I was wondering if maybe you wanted to play some ball? I only got one other friend to play with, so it's a small team... But we could make it work!" He smiled down at me nervously, waiting for an answer.

I just stared at him silently. I couldn't believe it. This boy wanted me to play baseball with him. This boy thought I was worthy to play. It didn't matter to him that I was a girl, he just thought of me as another player. I suddenly felt a whole lot better. I was making a new friend and pursuing mine and my family's passion. I must have been grinning pretty big because my face began to hurt.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'd like that," I said standing up. My anger and suspicion disappeared and I could hardly contain my excitement. The boy almost looked surprised but it quickly turned to a smile.

"Great! Do you wanna go now? We have a lot down the street a ways... The Sandlot," he motioned his hand in the direction of it.

"Sure!" I grabbed my mitt and he motioned for me to follow. We broke out into a run and I followed him a ways down the street before I finally asked, "Hey, what's your name?"

He looked back at me and smiled. "I'm Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez. You can call me Benny, though."

"Benny," I tried the name out and then smiled. "Okay. I'm Andrea Giselle Morre. Call me Andi, though. I hate the name Andrea." I cringed my nose, remembering the time a girl with the same name as me had stolen my favorite blue marble. Ever since then, I had wanted no tie to her what-so-ever.

"Alright," Benny smiled and began to slow his pace. We stopped. "Welcome to the Sandlot, Andi."

I looked around the empty lot. It was full of dead grass and there was trash along the sides. The diamond wasn't entirely clear and the bases were makeshift. The dugout was also constructed out of random items; it appeared to be made of some old chairs and some blankets. It was a trashy old lot that I'm sure is constantly looked over. But I fell in love with it right away. It'd take longer for me to fall in love with Benny but that was alright. In that moment, I simply gazed upon the empty lot and my new found friend...

And I didn't feel so alone anymore.

~*~

I didn't fall in love with my best friend, Benny, because he was better at baseball than me. I'm a pretty fair player myself. No where near as great as him, but still good. I didn't fall in love with Benny because he was handsome. Hell, over half the girls at our school were crazy about him because he was such a looker. But that wasn't it. I didn't fall in love with him because of that cool and quiet air he had about him. The Benny I knew was _far_ from quiet.

I fell in love with Benny because he played baseball with so many different people. He just didn't care about things like race or gender or social status. I fell in love with Benny because he could have hung out with any of the girls around town but he instead chose to sneak into my room at three in the morning and talk until the sun came up. I fell in love with him because he seemed to be the only person who could make my dad _genuinely_ laugh. I fell in love with him because when I spoke about mom, he listened and when I cried, he'd bring me down to the sandlot to play some ball. I fell in love with Benny because every time he smiled at me, it felt like the holes in my heart were being stitched back together again.

I knew he'd probably never return those feelings. He was too in love with baseball to love another. But that was alright.

I think I might have even loved him for that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter one

_Clank._

I woke with a start and looked around the room. I had heard something. My room was dark except for the faint light of the moon that was dripping in through my window. It cast long shadows across my floor, forming spooky patterns. I took a glance around the room, taking in the sight of piles of clothing on the floor, the oak wood desk in the corner, and the half open closet. There was no movement anywhere.

Slowly, I moved to the edge of the bed and got on my knees. I scooped up my tangled hair, and slowly leaned over the side of the bed to get a good look underneath. To my relief, there was nothing under the bed, aside from my baseball bat and mitt. Sitting back up, I sighed, and crawled back under the covers. I curled up comfortably and closed my eyes.

_Clank._

There, I had heard it again. I sat up and waited for it and sure enough, I heard it about a moment later. It was coming from the window, and I threw off my sheets intending to investigate. I adjusted the white tank and blue shorts I had on and set my bare feet on the floor. The floor was carpeted and so my feet didn't freeze when they hit the ground. I moved to the window and opened it and sure enough, I spotted Benny. He was standing below the window, a rock in hand.

"Hey," I said, just loud enough for him to hear. "You're gonna break my window! And dad will not be happy with _either_ of us." I knew he wouldn't really break the window. He was too skilled at pitching to do that. But the situation was all too perfect to not give him at least a little hell for throwing rocks.

Benny rolled his eyes at me before saying, "C'mon, Andi! Last day of school in a few hours! Have a little fun and sneak out with me!"

I snorted before looking at the clock in my room. "Benny, it's three in the morning. We're gonna be exhausted."

"So? We can sleep it off later," he continued to grin up at me, perfect white teeth set against tan skin. I felt a grin spread across my own face, and I sighed in defeat. How could I say no to a face like that?

Shaking my head, I turned around and walked back into my room, where I grabbed an old grey coat and some jeans. I pulled my short brown hair into a messy pony tail. I could hear Benny outside, grumbling. He probably thought I had gone back to bed. After pulling on the jeans, I walked over to the window. He was still standing there.

"Andrea Giselle Morre. Get your butt out here!" He called up to me.

"Alright, alright! I was gonna come anyways," I laughed, putting my hands up defensively before climbing outside of my window. Carefully, I set my feet on the part of the roof that stuck out below and then from there, I jumped to the ground. To get back up, I would simply have to climb the lattice back to the roof.

We had been doing this for years now, so we had pretty much mastered the technique of sneaking in and out of the house. Once on the ground, I turned around and grinned at Benny before jumping on him.

"Jeez, so all that hard to get stuff was just acting, huh?" Benny smiled and we began to walk down the sidewalk. Warm summer air ruffled our hair.

"Yeah, my acting's getting pretty good," I joked. "No, despite everything, I'm excited! What are we going to do tonight, anyways?"

"I'm not entirely sure actually," he admitted sheepishly, while resting his arm across my shoulders. He grinned at me. "I figured we'd make it up as we go."

~*~

As quietly as I possibly could, I inched my way back into my room and quietly walked over to my bed. The sun was rising and I probably didn't have long to sleep. I was exhausted but it had been a fun night. Benny and I had run all over the neighborhood, doing the most random of things before we finally went to the tree house and settled ourselves in there. Benny had stretched out on his back and we talked for hours about whatever came to mind. We finally decided to come home at the sight of first light.

Smiling to myself, I sat down on the bed and pulled off my jeans and coat. I let my hair fall out of its ponytail and then I curled up under the covers and closed my eyes. I let images of Benny flood my mind and slowly, I was lulled into sleep.

And then my alarm clock went off.

I groaned loudly. Benny had taken up all the time I had for sleep but for some reason, I didn't mind that much. Rolling over to silence the alarm clock, I didn't realize how close I was to the edge of the bed until I fell off. I landed hard on my back and I hit my head on the nightstand.

"_Ow_," I whined, rubbing the back of my sore head. Getting up, I stretched and walked over to the window. I saw Benny across the way in his house. He looked just as tired as I was. Seeing me, he smiled and waved though. I waved back and then walked over to my closet. We had to dress more professionally for school and I hated it. But I'd deal, it was the last day of 8th grade after all.

Sighing, I put on one of the two skirts I owned; a dark red skirt that stopped just above the knee. It accented my hips and legs in a way that I was unhappily unfamiliar with but then again, it wasn't no pair of jeans. I decided to wear a plain white tee-shirt and some white flats. The white tee-shirt comforted me a little at least. Finally, I looked in the mirror and decided what to do with my hair.

Looking into the mirror, I observed my face. The build of my face was surprisingly delicate; my chin, nose and mouth were all on the small, gentle side. My tanned skin made the features of my face appear a little stronger, though. My hair had always been shorter than most girls, it hung just below my shoulders. It was sort of choppy but it framed my face, I suppose. No, I wasn't exactly pretty, I decided. But I wasn't ugly either. Just plain. Just Andi.

Perhaps my only redeeming physical quality was my large blue eyes. My dad always told me how I had gotten them from my mother, that they were the same clear, vibrant blue. Benny often joked with me, saying that my eyes 'look like they go on forever.'

Well, my hair didn't look too bad from last night. It curled and flipped and stuck up in some places but overall, it wasn't as messy as it could have been. I pursed my lips and finally decided that it would be fine if I just left it down. It wasn't its usual brown bird's nest, anyway. I checked the clock and cursed when I saw I only had five minutes. I flew down the stairs and into the kitchen and quickly grabbed an apple off the counter.

"Woah," Jimmy, my brother, joked. "Where's the fire, Andi?"

"Shut up," I said back, grinning. I punched him softly in the stomach before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "See you later!"

I then ran to the table where Todd, my other brother, was sitting, drinking coffee and reading the paper. I kissed him on each cheek. Apparently he wasn't expecting it, because he kinda jumped and spilt coffee everywhere.

"Sheesh, Andi! You scared me!" He exclaimed, mopping up the mess around him with a napkin.

"Sorry!" I shouted, as I quickly headed towards the door. I didn't have time to help him today. I was gonna miss the bus.

"Hey, wait! You never kiss me twice! What's up?" Todd called after me.

"One's for dad!" I shouted back before closing the door and running down the path. Dad hadn't been downstairs so he must have been up in his study, writing. It was the only thing he had been doing for the past few months. He'd get a sudden splash of inspiration and before we knew it, he'd be locked up in his study all day.

Sometimes it lasted longer than others but that was alright. Sooner or later, he'd want a break and he'd come back out. Now, just because he was in his study a lot didn't mean he was a bad father. He just wasn't around as much as normal dads. I don't think any of us minded though. We were used to his occasional disappearances.

Running out to the street, I spotted Benny across the way, closing his door. He was late too.

"C'mon Benny! Race ya!" I called out to Benny before I took off running down the street. I heard his distant laugh behind me and then I heard the sound of his shoes hitting the street as he ran after. Despite the fact that I had been given a head start, it wasn't long before Benny had caught up to me.

"So you call this a race, huh?" He grinned and purposefully fell into step beside me.

"I already knew you were faster than me!" I panted as I kept running. "And the annoying thing is that you just keep getting faster!"

"Ha! So then this wasn't actually a race to begin with?"

"No, it was more a tactic to get our ass's to the bus!"

Benny laughed and then grabbed my hand, saying, "Then allow me to get both our ass's over there faster!"

And with that he was full on sprinting, dragging me behind him. I barely managed to keep up and there were quite a few times I thought I might trip and fall flat on my face. Luckily though, Benny's tactic worked and we actually made it right as the bus doors were about to close.

Benny stepped to the side and allowed me to climb on the bus first, like a true gentleman, before getting on the bus himself. We quickly maneuvered through the mass of bodies and went to the back of the bus where we found the rest of the guys already seated.

Seeing the faces of my friends beaming at us always made me feel odd. It was sort of this warm sensation that started in the stomach and spread slowly to the rest of me, until I was beaming back. I had to admit, it was a strange feeling.

But it was a _good_ sort of strange.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** Sorry for not commenting on the last chapter. I was in such a hurry I forgot to write anything! But aside from that, thank you to all who have reviewed so far! Overall, the reviews have been extremely nice and helpful! Thank you!

Anyway, here's the third chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "The Sandlot," or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

"You guys almost missed the bus!" Squints said loudly, as if calling the rest of the guys to order.

"Yeah, yeah, what was that all about?"

"Benny thought it would be a good idea to keep me out all night, so neither of us had much time to prepare," I mumbled while closing my eyes, already feeling the exhaustion setting in. Benny laughed quietly, sitting down next to me.

Not hearing any replies from the rest of the guys, I opened my eyes. Ham and Bertram were giving us very suggestive looks and I immediately understood what they were thinking. Apparently, so did Benny. Well, that wasn't awkward _at all_.

"No, no, not like that, you guys!" I quickly shouted. "Jeez, perverted much..."

"Yeah guys, seriously. We're best friends, not..." Benny waved his arms around, searching for the words but he got the point across. I sighed internally, knowing what he meant. I wished we were more than just best friends, though.

Choosing to ignore the previous topic, Kenny quickly spoke up. "So what's the plan with the sandlot and everything? We goin' after school or what?"

Benny nodded. "Yeah. We'll meet at the sandlot, as soon as possible."

"What about the rest of summer?"

Benny pursed his lips and thought about it a moment. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We'll meet at the sandlot every morning, at seven o' clock."

Groans sounded around the group and I chuckled quietly to myself. I knew there was no way in hell the guys were gonna let Benny drag them down to the sandlot at seven in the morning. It was obvious Benny didn't know what the fuss was all about though, because he frowned at the rest of them.

"What? What's the big deal? We wake up the same time for school."

"_Exactly!_" Timmy said exasperated.

"_Exactly!_"

"Benny, there is no way I'm waking up that early!" Ham quickly threw in.

"Normal people need sleep," Bertram stressed.

Benny cocked an eyebrow at that. There was obviously a double meaning to what Bertram was saying. Well, I had to admit, it was a little bit true. If it were up to Benny and things like sleep didn't matter, he'd be out there at the sandlot, playing twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

"Face it, man. We are _not_ going out there at seven," Squints said, finally ending the idea.

Sighing loudly, Benny frowned, knowing he was defeated. "Alright, fine. We'll meet at eight, okay? Hopefully you babies'll be able to handle that," he added in quickly, to make them feel at least a little bad. They didn't. Actually, it was as if they didn't even hear him.

"Awesome, so eight it is," Kenny said to the rest of the guys. "And we'll meet there after school's out to celebrate."

"To celebrate that school's out?" Ham asked eagerly.

"Duh," I said, finally joining the conversation.

Ham rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Andi, you know you want me."

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

Bertram moved closer to the rest of us. "And for good luck," He said pulling something out of his pocket. "I think we should play with this ball."

He pulled out of his pocket a pretty average looking baseball. Looking to Bertram's face, it looked as though he was going to explode with laughter. I tried to see around Benny, looking for what made the ball so special or in Bertram's case, comical.

"Yeah, yeah, what makes that ball so lucky?" Yeah-Yeah asked, voicing my own thoughts.

"This ball," Bertram began dramatically, "is signed by The Babe."

It was an automatic uproar in the back of the bus. Half of us were shouting out, "That is such a lie!" and the other half were all grabbing for the ball, trying to see if it really was. Bertram was in hysterics by the time Benny managed to rip the ball from his grasp and turn it around to look at the scrawled signature. A moment later, Benny threw the ball at Bertram, who blocked it with his hand.

"No it ain't! You just wrote on it with black pen!"

Another uproar started among the guys, this time all of them hitting Bertram on the arms and shoulders. Bertram didn't even notice. He was practically wetting himself, he was laughing so hard. Shaking my head, I leaned over Benny and grabbed the ball from Bertram, so that I could get a better look at it. Sure enough, I recognized Bertram's messy handwriting, spelling out 'Babe Ruth.'

"That's no Babe Ruth ball," I said handing it back to him. "Anyone could tell that that's your own crappy handwriting."

Finally calming down, Bertram replied, "Yeah, okay, I did fake it. I just figured since it was my turn to buy the ball, I'd have a little fun with it."

The guys all took turns smacking him again as he broke out into new fits of giggles. I glanced up at the bus driver. From what I could tell, she was obviously not pleased by all the noise we were making. Luckily for her though, our school came into view. That was enough to quiet the guys and me. None of us enjoyed school. We always preferred being out on the field to being trapped inside.

The bus finally pulled to a stop and we all stood up, while simultaneously groaning. We all dreaded this part, but at least today was the last day of junior high. That would probably be the only thing that got us through the day. As we passed the bus driver, I could have sworn I saw her giving us a warning glare.

We separated for our first couple of classes. I had none of the guys in my first, so it went by particularly slow. Luckily though, I had my second class with Benny. We sat across from each other in the back of the room, so we often passed notes back and forth all class long. It probably didn't help our grades any but we were both strong 'B/C' students. Well, more strong 'C' students but still, the notes made the class more tolerable.

I watched as Benny ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook and scribbled on it. He folded it quietly and then flicked it over to me. I opened it as silently as I could and quickly read his bad cursive.

_Is class over yet?_

I grinned across the table at him. He looked exhausted and bored. I was feeling much the same myself, but I still tried to make the effort to cheer him up.

_C'mon Benny! You can do it! Actually, if you wanted to, you could probably just go to sleep. I doubt the teacher would notice._

After he quickly wrote back, I read his response.

_Are you kidding me? The guy has eyes in the back of his head!_

I grinned, and took a moment to think of how to reply back. I smiled when I finally had it. I scribbled down my reply and flicked the sheet back over to him.

_You could close your eyes and I could draw eyeballs on your eyelids! It'd look like you were awake. No man with 4 eyes would be able to tell the difference!_

Benny after reading my response about laughed out loud. He quickly turned it into a muffled cough before anyone took notice. The rest of the class went pretty smoothly with the two of us handing notes back and forth. When we had to part for our next class though, time seemed to slow to the pace of molasses. I simply sat for an hour, staring at the clock and counting down the minutes to lunch. When it finally arrived, I about ran to lunch laughing, I was so happy.

After three hours of sitting, stepping outside felt great. The sun was out and it warmed the air. There was a nice breeze pushing across the field. I sighed contentedly and wandered farther out, looking for the guys. However, someone else found me first.

"Hey, Andi!" I heard the familiar female voice shout. I looked around and spotted my friend, Taylor, sitting with a few other girls, whom I recognized and waved to.

I was so boyish that it was almost surprising that I had any girl friends at all. I remembered the first time I had met Taylor and how we had become friends right away. When I told dad about it, he about fainted. Todd and Jimmy thought I was lying. Of course I didn't blame them. Especially because Taylor was just your average girl. She was girly, and very pretty, with wavy blonde hair and light green eyes. She was tall and thin and always wore very pretty skirts and dresses.

It was hard to believe that the two of us got along. Granted, we weren't best friends, but Taylor understood where I was coming from and she actually enjoyed my company. And I enjoyed hers. I got along with most of her friends too, so when I wasn't sitting with the guys, I was sitting with Taylor.

"Do you want to sit with us today?" Taylor called out to me. I glanced around the field quickly and not spotting the guys, I agreed.

"Sure!"

"Then come on over, Andi!"

I laughed and went to sit down by her. The girls and her were sitting at one of the various picnic tables and as I drew nearer, she patted the seat next to her, which I quickly took. I admired her hair a little, she had a headband in it today that had light blue flowers on it. It was cute on her, but I knew it'd look awful on me.

"So, what's up? What're you going to do over the summer?" Taylor asked first, while taking a bite out of the shiny, red apple she had brought.

"Oh, you know," I said shrugging. "I'll be down at the sandlot all summer."

"Ha, I should have guessed. Well, will I at least see you at the fair?"

"Well, I was gonna go with the guys, but if I see you there, we could hang out."

"Okay, awesome. So, are you thinking about baseball or Benny right now?" Taylor asked abruptly, resting her dainty chin in the palm of her hand.

"What? Oh, uh," I said, searching for words. I didn't think she would notice that my eyes were constantly flickering over to the baseball diamond, but Taylor was very observant. She nodded her head up and down, with a smug look on her face.

"Mm-hmm," Taylor grinned at me.

"What? Obviously I'd think of Benny when I see the diamond. He practically _lives_ on it!" I said exasperated. Taylor started laughing.

"Whatever, Andi. One of these days though, you're gonna have to do something. Otherwise, you're going to be the 'best friend' forever."

"I know, I know," I half lied.

"Good," Taylor replied, closing the topic. "So the girls wanted to move inside. You wanna come?"

"Go back inside? Ew, no way!" I stuck out my tongue and Taylor smiled.

"So predictable. Alright, see you around Andi!"

"Bye!"

After watching the girls leave, I sat on the side of the picnic table and looked around. There was a game of baseball going on, the one that I had been watching earlier. I was surprised that I didn't see Benny in the game. Usually he was playing by now. Looking around some more, I finally spotted them all at another picnic table closer to the diamond. Benny was standing next to the guys, talking to Kenny and Bertram. He looked ready to go join the baseball game.

I watched them for a little while, trying to decide if I should go over or not, when all of a sudden, Squints spotted me and waved. I smiled at him from across the field. All of the other guys then spotted me too and began waving. I laughed as I watched Yeah-Yeah jokingly bat his eyelids at me and wave his hand in a very flirty fashion. I returned the action, batting my eyelashes and wiggling my fingers at him in a very overdone way.

The table began laughing loudly at our ridiculous exchange. I could hear them from where I was sitting. Still smiling, Benny stepped away from the table and I saw him run over my way. I smiled at him as he finally took his last few steps over to me.

"Hey Benny, why aren't you playing?" I asked, looking up at him. Instead of sitting down, he chose to stay standing while talking to me. I figured he stayed standing because he was about to take off to the baseball diamond at any minute. I was correct.

"I'm gonna, I'm gonna," he said as if I were in great distress. "I just thought I'd say hi before I went off. Maybe get a good luck kiss." He jokingly pursed his lips and I started laughing. He grinned, obviously pleased at being able to make me laugh. Smiling, I leaned back in my seat and sighed.

"Two more classes and then were out," I said, smiling dreamily out at the baseball diamond.

"Yeah, out for three months. Three whole months..." He trailed off, and I automatically knew that he was thinking about the sandlot. We'd have three months off and to Benny that meant three whole months to play baseball down at the sandlot. I smiled while watching Benny's face light up and get that far away look. There was only one thing that could make him look like that and that was baseball.

"Hey mister dreamy eyes! You gonna play or what?" I finally asked him. Benny blinked his eyes a few times and looked at me. He obviously hadn't realized that he had been spacing out but he recovered from it quite quickly.

He flashed me a grin before saying, "What's that? You think my eyes are dreamy?"

"That's not what I meant," I said, rolling my eyes. Of course I thought he had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen but that wasn't what I had meant and he knew that. "No, it's your eyes when you get all lost in thought. Usually about baseball. They get this far away look. Dreamy, you know?"

He smiled sheepishly and then shrugged. "Baseball's life," he said simply. I smiled at him. I knew most kids didn't feel the same way but that's what made Benny special. That's what told me and everybody else that Benny was going to do something big with his life.

"You know," Benny began slowly. I looked up at him, expectantly. "Your eyes -"

"Well Rodriguez, I'm surprised. I didn't realize you had a thing for homely girls."

Benny's fists automatically clenched shut but I just rolled my eyes and turned to face our unwelcome visitor, Tyler Phillips.

"Don't you have a few appointments with people who need to punch you in the face?" I asked, glaring up at him from my seat and crossing my arms.

"Oh, Andrea, your words are so hurtful!" Phillips mocked, dramatically putting his hand to his forehead and letting his head fall back. "I think I'll go lock myself up in a dark room for a few years, I'm just so hurt!"

"Good, it'd do us all a favor," Benny practically spat. "And it's Andi, not Andrea," Benny corrected for me.

Phillips snorted. "Jeez, the way you two act! It's as if you guys are some old married couple. 'It's Andi, not Andrea,'" Phillips repeated Benny, imitating his voice in a joking way before giving me a passing glance. "Still surprised you picked such an ugly girl, though. I thought you liked pretty, girly girl type."

Benny's scowl just got deeper and I looked to the side. I knew it was true that Benny was attracted to the more feminine girls. And there were a lot of them that liked him. He never really went out with many because that would cut into his time to play baseball, but I still had to deal with the few that he did occasionally go out with. Most of them were actually nice girls but that just made it worse. I just considered myself lucky that it was usually a one date thing.

I sighed in frustration. Phillips could never just leave us alone. He always had to try his quick witted insults on us. Seeing that his musings weren't getting us as riled up as usual, he tried a new tactic that he knew would get both of us.

"I mean at least a pretty girl would be useful during ball games," Phillips said, carrying on his rant. "I mean, sure, she can't play in the game, but she can cheer from the sidelines. Little Andi here can't do either."

Benny and I immediately knew what he was talking about. I remembered the first time Phillips had challenged us to a game. It was after we had assembled the entire team. We had just based up when suddenly, to our surprise, Phillips called the game to a stop. We went to investigate why and we discovered that not only did Phillips refuse to play on the same team as a girl, he absolutely refused to play against one, too.

Him and his team had walked away laughing, saying that they'd challenge us to a real game once we got our ninth player. I was furious. I had thought that by finally making it on a baseball team, even if it wasn't official, I had made it past the gender issue. The assumption that a girl shouldn't be able to partake in any sports. But here I was, running into it again. I just couldn't escape it.

Phillips hadn't challenged us since but he took every chance he got to remind us about the incident. It pissed all the guys off but it made Benny especially furious. Currently, I was debating whether or not to grab hold of Benny's arm just to make sure that he didn't dive on Phillips.

I rolled my eyes before saying, "Please. The only reason you're too chicken to play against me is because you're afraid of the chance that a girl might beat you. An ugly girl, at that." I smirked slightly, noticing his expression.

Truth was, I knew what got to him, too. And that was the idea of a girl, specifically me, winning out against him. I hadn't played against him since I was seven, so I didn't really know if I was still the tiniest bit better than him like I had been then. But I knew he remembered that as well as I did and I was going to milk it as long as I possibly could.

Looking me up and down, Phillips sneered slightly. "You got that right, Morre. Not even the frilliest of dresses and heaviest makeup could make you pretty," he said, grimacing as if the mere sight of me hurt his eyes. Automatically, Benny stepped in front of me.

"Shut it, Phillips!" He snarled back, his hands clenching tightly into fists. I sighed quietly in annoyance. I could very well have taken care of myself but Benny was so protective. He was like this all the time, protective of everybody on his team. But he was always the tiniest bit more protective of me. I figured it was because I was the poor defenseless girl on the team. Of course, Benny knew better, but it never stopped him. He's such a gentleman.

I curled my tan fingers around Benny's arm, and leaned around him, so that I could see his face and Phillips, who stood in front of him, just begging for a fight.

"Benny," I warned him quietly. Last thing I wanted was for the two to fight.

"What?" Benny turned his glare to me. "He's talking shit about you and you're just gonna let him?"

"Benny," I repeated calmly. "It's not an insult that Phillips thinks I'm ugly. It's a blessing."

Phillips frown deepened and his brows furrowed as if he was trying to decide if that was an insult or not. Benny actually cracked a grin, forgetting all previous feelings of anger. I smiled back, before looking to Phillips to see if it had sunk in yet. I could tell it had, but he stayed quiet for a moment. It was obvious that he wasn't sure how to respond to that.

I smiled slightly. He could call me ugly all he wanted but it never affected me the same way it did other girls. Maybe it was because I had already come to terms with my physical appearance or perhaps it was the result of having grown up around so many boys who didn't care about appearance. Those were certainly factors, but I was sure that neither was the main reason.

I didn't care what Phillips made of my looks because I didn't care for his opinion. If I ever wanted to look or feel pretty, I knew I wouldn't want to hear it from him. So it didn't make me angry or hurt my feelings when he called me ugly. In reality, there was only one thing that ever came from his mouth that infuriated me. And although he had already used it, he obviously hadn't given up yet.

Holding his head high, though it didn't do much for making him appear intimidating, he smirked.

"You really know how to pick 'em, Rodriguez," he spat out quietly. "She's hard to look at and can't play baseball."

I shot up from my seat but not because of my sudden want to sock Phillips in the stomach. I got to my feet as fast as I could because the moment Phillips said it, Benny had Phillips by the scruff of his team jacket. The first time he said it, Benny must have been able to deal, but twice was obviously too much. The rest of the guys, who were still sitting across the way, had got up out of their seats when they saw Benny lunge and were now quickly headed towards us. Phillips teammates were now running towards us as well.

"Benny!" I shouted, grasping his arm. "Knock it off, he's just saying it to make us angry!"

Once I said that, I saw Benny nod his head grudgingly and I felt his grasp loosen on Phillips. Phillips quickly shoved away from Benny and stumbled a few paces away. He looked shaky. Benny had never done that to him before.

"What's your problem, Rodriguez?!" Phillips demanded. "I mean, what's she worth to you!"

Benny stood to his full height and I forgot that I still held his arm.

"Andi's on my team. She's also my best friend. I'll protect her."

The rest of the guys had finally arrived, Phillips behind him and ours behind us. But I hardly noticed. I was looking up at Benny, too shocked for words. I knew he was protective but he had never said anything like that before. I couldn't even find the words to describe what he looked like then, with his head held high, his jaw set and his shoulders squared.

"If this is about Andi, you may as well back off. She's on the team," Kenny said, stepping forward.

"Yeah, yeah, you better scram before Benny gives you a black eye!" Yeah-Yeah threw in, laughing. He obviously found Phillips slightly scared expression amusing.

"Yeah. I might leave you alone though, if you let Andi play in our baseball matches," Benny said, smirking slightly. Phillips wasn't acting so tough now. In fact, he looked like a spoiled child who had just been denied candy.

"Pft, yeah right," Phillips finally muttered before turning on his heel and stocking away, the rest of his teammates following close behind.

We stood there for a moment in silence before Ham spoke up.

"The guys a jerk."

"I second that," Bertram added.

"I can't believe he still won't let you play," Benny finally said, turning to me.

"Guys," I sighed. "It's not that big of a deal. _Honestly._ You guys are great for sticking up for me and everything but seriously. It's not worth getting kicked out of school for." I glared pointedly at Benny, who shrugged.

"Hey, last day of school, remember?" Benny said while grinning slightly, trying to make light of the situation. I finally had to smile back.

"I'm sorry for sounding ungrateful, I just ... _worry_ about you guys. I don't want you getting in trouble over me," I smiled at all of them and feeling a little too emotional, I added, "Now that that's said, thank you guys! And thank you Benny for scaring the shit out of Phillips when I couldn't."

"Hey, anytime," Benny shrugged it off and then smiled. "So, where's that good luck kiss? At this point, I think I deserve at least one."

I rolled my eyes. Of course I would have liked it if he were serious but I knew he wasn't. "How about a good luck hug?" I negotiated. Benny pursed his lips and thought about it a moment before finally nodding his head.

"Well, alright. I guess I _could_ settle for a hug."

I laughed and stood up on my toes. I opened my arms wide and I felt myself engulfed in his arms. He was getting so much bigger than me. Our hug almost went a second too long but I didn't mind. At this point, I was pretty sure I could hug him for as long as I wanted and not have to feel weird about it.

After parting from the hug, Benny looked at the rest of the guys. "So, do you guys wanna come cheer me on?" He smiled sheepishly as if he was asking a big favor of all of us.

"Duh," Squints said simply and that about summed it up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note:** Wow, chapter three already! Actually, I shouldn't say that. This was going to be the end of chapter one, but of course, that would be _so_ long. So I cut chapter one into three! Ha, ha, I'm so easily amused. Anyway, thanks to all who read and all who review! All of it makes me feel so excited! Thank you and enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "The Sandlot," or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

We all decided to sit on and around a bench that was in the shade. The bench was close to the baseball diamond, so we could see Benny very clearly. We sat in a tense silence as he went up to bat. We all had confidence in his batting skills (after all, who at our school was better at baseball than Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez?) but that still didn't stop the tension from building. I watched Benny approach home plate. He swung the baseball bat he had a few times in preparation and then bent his knees and pulled the bat back. Everyone's eyes then went to the pitcher, to see how he would throw the ball. But my focus didn't change. I kept my eyes on Benny, watching every little movement.

Then I heard the sound of the wind rushing around the baseball and I saw Benny swing his bat. The loud sound of the baseball making contact with the bat filled our ears and Benny was off. At this point, all of us were on the edge of our seats. Benny rounded first. And then second, in what felt like no time at all. It was as if he were flying around the bases, he was running so fast. As he rounded third though, an outfielder passed the ball to the third basemen. Benny was right between third and home, when the third baseman threw the ball to the first baseman. Finally the tension was too much. The guys and I jumped out of our seats and came up closer.

Benny was in a pickle.

"C'mon, Benny! Run! You can do it!" I shouted above the rest of the guys, forgetting where I was and everything else that was going on. We watched as Benny, light on his feet, ran back and forth between the bases, all of us shouting and cheering him on. Finally, the slightest of opportunities opened and Benny took it. He ran towards home plate and we all broke into cheers when his foot touched it, scoring himself a home run.

Smiling with delight at his accomplishment, Benny came walking over to us. His hair was disheveled from running, his black converse were dusty and the sleeves of his flannel shirt had come unraveled in the process. But he was absolutely glowing with the glory of his home run. I could have sworn that I heard over half the girls outside sigh.

Walking up to him, we congratulated him on his win. Ham held up his hand for a high-five and Benny accepted; their hands slapping together made a muffled noise because of Benny's sleeve, which covered his hand.

"Nice," Ham said appreciatively.

"That was awesome Benny," Squints said, also stealing a high-five.

"Yeah, not too shabby."

"Not too shabby!"

"The other guys looked impressed."

"Yeah, yeah, you should have seen the look on their faces!"

"The ball was all like, _wooosh_!"

Benny laughed at the guys, all of them throwing compliments and observations at him. Suddenly, we heard the bell ring, signaling lunch was over. We continued talking, while walking back towards the building. We still had a few more classes to go before we were finally free. But with a hit like that still on my mind, I was sure the day would fly by with ease.

By the end of the school day, the sun was shining and it was warm outside. The gang and I ended up agreeing with Benny, it was too nice a day to ride the bus home. We weren't too far from the school, so the adventure home wouldn't be too exhausting. Especially with all of us so excited about going to the sandlot and playing some ball. Walking home, we all laughed and talked about how we were going to spend the summer camping out, going to the fair and most of all, playing baseball down at the sandlot. Bringing up the latter, we all broke out into talk about baseball. As we continued down the road to home, Timmy and Tommy dropped off first. They both said their congratulations to Benny first, though. Or rather, Timmy said it and then Tommy repeated it.

"That was a awesome hit today, Benny."

"Awesome hit today, Benny!"

"Hey, don't you guys see me play baseball like all the time?" Benny asked.

"Hey, not for a while we haven't."

"Not for a while-"

"Shut up, Tommy. I mean, with school and stuff, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," Benny shrugged before grinning. "That's about to change today though. Come down to the sandlot as soon as you can, okay guys?"

"Yeah Benny, we will!"

"We will!"

The rest of us watched as the two ran into their house and then we carried on down the road. After walking for a minute or two, the rest of the guys began dropping off as well. First Bertram and then Kenny. Squints and Yeah-Yeah went after them, both at the same time because they live next to one another. Finally it was down to Ham, Benny and I, who lived in about the same area.

Ham always parted before Benny and I though, and so like any other day, I carried on where we had left off the day before.

"Oh no, Ham! I think we're breaking up!" I cried as we reached that usual spot in the road where we split.

"What, don't tell me we're separating _already_, Andi!" Ham said dramatically, clutching his heart.

"I'll wait for you, Ham! I'll wait for you!" I continued to yell at him from across the way. Benny, who was at my side, continued to chuckle. I watched as Ham got farther and farther away and laughed when he shouted something that I couldn't hear. He waved one last time to us and we waved back before carrying on our merry way.

Benny and I walked a ways, laughing and talking a little about summer plans and other random what-have-yous.

"So," I said after a good laugh, "What's this '_my team_' thing, anyways?"

"'My team'?" Benny repeated questioningly.

"Yeah, this whole '_I protect my team_' thing. I'm assuming it's a macho thing," I clarified, waving my hand dismissively. Benny grinned.

"Well, you guys are my friends, I gotta look out for you," He replied. He grinned and quickly added. "But you know, I was the one who found most of the guys, so it was technically me who formed the team."

"Oh whatever!" I exclaimed, playfully punching him in the chest. "That is such a lie! I found a lot of the guys too!"

"Yeah, maybe, but I started it with Kenny!" He countered. By now he was smiling hugely. Quickly, I mentally added up who all I had found for the team.

"Well, I brought... Timmy and Tommy to the sandlot! Remember, you were playing with Kenny and Bertram and it was like, a hundred and fifty degrees out? And I came to the sandlot with _two_ new kids to play with!"

I put heavy emphasize on the word two but Benny brushed it off, saying, "Tommy repeats everything that Timmy says. They count as one person."

"What? No-"

"And I found Squints. And Yeah-Yeah. The two were hanging out at the drugstore. And I found Bertram!"

I frowned a little. He was winning. "Well, uh," I said quickly, "I found Ham!"

Benny snorted. "He only came with you because you're a girl. He goes after anything with boobs."

"Pft. _What_ boobs?" I scoffed, while motioning to my rather flat chest.

Benny rolled his eyes at me and jabbed me in the chest with his finger, causing me to yelp with surprise.

"_These_ boobs."

"Oh, I'm _so_ flattered you noticed," I said sarcastically. "Doesn't matter though! I'll bet you're glad Ham's on the team," I said, smiling triumphantly. "Looks like you're only one ahead."

"Nope," He said shaking his head, a slow grin stretching across his face.

"But," I began, counting everybody in my head again. "That's everyone."

To my surprise, Benny laughed. He shook his head, his eyes gleaming. I frowned a little, wondering what I was missing.

"I found one more person," Benny said. He nudged me in the side. "You."

My mouth dropped slightly. I had forgotten myself. I tried to be angry that he now had two more than me but I couldn't. A smile spread quickly across my face and I couldn't fight it, so I looked down.

"Alright, alright," I admitted, still looking down. "You win."

"Good," I heard him say. And then so quick that I didn't even realize it was happening, I felt him poke me in the side. Completely caught off guard, I gasped rather loudly and jumped. I was so surprised, the only thing I could do was gape at him. Meanwhile, Benny was clutching his stomach and was bent over laughing.

"_D-D-Don't d-do t-that!_" I stuttered out. He stood up straight now but continued laughing loudly. He knew how much I hated it when he did that but really it was the easiest way to make me give up. And Benny was so fast, he could poke me in the sides before I even knew what was going on. I suspected though that most of the time, he just did it for a laugh.

"Ah, Andi, it's not that bad," Benny managed to gasp out, while wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, you won't be saying that when I strangle you," I said glaring. Automatically I recognized the shift in his character. His carefree, laugh filled smile turned to a grin, his eyes turned competitive and I could tell he was up to the challenge.

"Yeah? Gonna try and catch me?" He stood up to his full height. I snorted. Another macho boy thing.

But before I could reply, he took off running down the street. My mouth dropped. I didn't actually think he would run. Of course, by now, I should have known that Benny is kind of unpredictable when around me. I shook my head and grinned. Well if that suited him, why not? I stopped and watched him run. Obviously, he was fast. He had already made it to the end of the street. But he was also very graceful. There was no way I planned on running after him. I couldn't keep up with him in jeans much less a skirt, so I simply stood there and waited while he came running back to me.

Granted, it didn't take long for him to be right back in front of me. Panting, he stopped in front of me grinning. His dark hair was now wind tousled and his eyes were gleaming even more than usual.

"Enjoy your run, showoff?" I asked, rolling my blue eyes. We continued to walk once again.

"Pft, who doesn't love running?" He asked, beaming. "It's like flying."

I stared up at him and smiled. He was right.

"Besides," he added slyly. "I thought you'd like to see me in action."

"Ha."

"What? You weren't admiring me from behind?" He teased, nudging me.

"No, it was more like me wondering for the fiftieth time, why you're so darn fast," I said jokingly, while rolling my eyes.

"You know," Benny said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Long legs'll do that for you."

"Oh yeah. I forgot that legs make up three fourths of your body."

"So you're saying... I'm hot?"

I laughed at his ridiculous interpretation of what I was saying and playfully punched him in the chest again. We had finally turned onto our street. Benny's house was right across the road from mine, and the rest of the guys lived pretty close too. It was always so simple for us to get together. As I looked at my house though, I noticed something. I slowed, still staring, until I finally came to a full stop. Benny continued walking, not noticing that I had stopped.

"Hey, Benny," I said, still focused.

"Yeah?" He looked the side, saw that I wasn't there and then looked over his shoulder. He came back to stand next to me. "What's up, Andi?" He asked, with what I thought was a hint of concern in his voice.

"Check it out," I pointed across the street. He followed my gaze and we both stared together. The house next to mine, which had been empty since our last teammate had moved, was now buzzing with activity. The "for sale" sign was gone and there was a car parked in the driveway. Boxes filled with countless objects were scattered around the lawn.

"New neighbors?"

"Looks like it."

We continued to stare until a small boy with neatly combed hair came out of the house. He came over to one of the boxes and looked through it a little. And then he looked over at us. He smiled shyly but he looked friendly. He waved to us. I smiled warmly and waved back and Benny nodded his head to the new boy. Plans began to unravel in my head while staring at the new kid. I almost made a move to go over and talk to him when I saw that Benny had picked up walking again. I turned quickly on my heel and ran to catch up with him.

Grabbing hold of Benny's arm, I pulled myself up along side him and said, "I think you should ask that kid to play ball with us!"

Benny stopped and turned to look at me, eyes wide. Luckily, we had stopped right in front of Benny's house, so we didn't look too awkward.

"What? Why him?" Benny asked me, clearly surprised.

"Because he's perfect!"

"_Perfect__?_" Benny cocked his head, looked back over at the kid and frowned.

"Yes!" I exclaimed before going into detail about my plan. Benny was mumbling to himself but I just ignored it and assumed he was listening.

"If we have a tenth player, you could get in more practice! We could trade in and out players when someone got tired or if someone is injured and if someone goes on vacation we have a back up player! It would give you more practice and-" I cut off, realizing that he wasn't listening after all. He was still off mumbling in his own little world. The late night must have really been getting to him.

"Perfect? No, I don't see it. He's not perfect... I mean, I guess girls might kinda find him cute but he's not handsome or anything..."

"Benny! He's perfect for the team!" I said exasperated, snapping my fingers in front of his eyes and bringing him back to reality. "And he can play in the matches against Phillips! In my place at least.." I trailed off, still thinking about my plan.

Benny, however, was sidetracked when I brought up the fact that Phillips refused to let me play against his little league team. His expression automatically turned dark.

"That's the biggest piece of bull shit I've _ever_ heard. You should be allowed to play, Andi! I mean, you're as good as any of the guys on his team. Maybe even better than some!"

I smiled shyly and looked down so that Benny couldn't see. It was so out of my character to be shy but I couldn't help it. Growing up around guys had made me unfamiliar with my emotions and how to handle situations like these. But even more so, Benny was such a talented baseball player. A compliment coming from him meant a lot, even if he was my best friend.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. And then I was back to my usual self. "But us complaining about it doesn't do us any good, now does it? We need a guy player! And he looks just right for the job!"

"Well.." Benny hesitated for a moment but then he smiled a little. "He looks like he _could_ be a good player."

"You could train him?" I asked, my smile growing.

"I think... I think that's a great idea."

"Benny!" I shouted, jumping on him. I was shorter than him, so I had to stand on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck. He was obviously caught off guard but he quickly leaned forward so that I could set my feet firmly on the ground. He rested his fingers lightly on my waist and I released him, still smiling.

"Sheesh, if I knew that was going to make you this happy, I would've put on some protective armor first," Benny joked. I hit his arm, grinning.

"Whatever, Benny!"

"Yeah." He looked off to the side, up towards his house and then said, "Oh! Mom wanted me to tell you that you and your family are welcome to come over to dinner tonight!"

I smiled. For the longest time, our families had been inviting each other over to meals. We had long forgotten who had started the tradition but we always looked forward to it. Mrs. Rodriguez was a brilliant cook.

"We'd love too! Does your mom want us to bring anything? Cake, napkins, anything?"

"Pft, _napkins_," Benny said, grinning and rolling his eyes at the absurdity of my question.

"Right, I guess you guys would have napkins. So, nothing?"

"Nothing, just show up. Oh, and are you coming down to the sandlot?"

"Of course! Why would I not?" I shook my head in a disbelieving manor. "Lemme run home and change and then we'll go, okay?"

"Right! I'll pass the news onto mom," he said, heading towards his house and me towards mine. "Meet you in five."

I grinned and waved and then I crossed the street and headed into my house. I smiled as I thought about the sandlot and the guys and all the new memories we were going to make. After nine long months of school, we were finally going to be able to play baseball for as long as we wanted. Summer had begun.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Chapter four at last! I'm sorry for the wait, I've been at a bit of a stand still. Chapter four is fairly short, and I'm sorry about that. I felt it was time to get a better look at the family and how the loss of Andi's mother has changed them all. The next chapter will be more light hearted, I promise! **

**Again, so many thanks to all who have read and reviewed! Thank you!**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "The Sandlot," or any of its characters.

Chapter Four

One thing that I always loved about our house was that we never locked the front door. Being able to walk into the house at any time, without having to knock or anything, always gave off such a welcoming feeling. It was like our house was open for family and friends all day and all night. Now, whether the decision to leave the front door unlocked all the time was safe or not, I wasn't really one to say. Somehow, we did escape the situation without any stolen belongings though, so the choice obviously wasn't all that stupid.

Turning the knob of the front door, I felt it open smoothly and I was able to step into our house. On first appearance, the inside of our home looked pretty average. The stairs and bathroom were straight ahead, the kitchen was to the right and the living room was to the left. Various family photos and other objects of sentimental value lined the walls and sat on tables and desks. Actually, come to think of it, our house _was_ pretty average. It was the happenings that occurred in the house that were, well, _different_.

So of course, I wasn't too surprised when I turned into the kitchen and beheld the chaos that was Jimmy, Todd and a box of Wheaties.

"Jimmy, knock it off! That is not- _not funny!_" Todd yelled, as Jimmy threw a handful of Wheaties at him. From what I could tell this had been going on for a while; there were flakes of cereal scattered everywhere and several chairs tipped over. I watched as Todd tried to get away, and Jimmy continued hurling piles of Wheaties, shouting things like, "Live a little!" Determined to get to the bottom of this, I stepped into the danger zone.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you doin'?" I shouted, as he threw another handful, which Todd dodged. Momentarily distracted, Jimmy looked at me and smiled.

"Andi, help me out here! Todd's being serious again!"

"And you're being childish!" Todd shot back, grabbing hold of the Wheaties box and trying to yank it out of Jimmy's hands.

"Havin' fun's no crime!"

"Just give me the damn box!"

I watched as the two struggled with it and shook my head. The two were very different. Playing the peacekeeper once again, I stepped forward and tried to take the box from them.

"Here guys, just let me-"

Before I could finish my sentence, their hands both slipped off the cereal box and the whole thing flew upward... And what was left of the Wheaties spilled out on to my head. For a moment, time seemed to hold still. I think we were all too surprised to do anything at first, other than let our mouths hang open. Jimmy was the first to come to, and he did so with explosive fits of laughter. Glaring at him, I bent down and grabbed some of the cereal off the floor.

"You think that's funny, huh?" I asked, dangerously. "It won't be so funny when I stuff these down your underwear!"

And so I went from peacekeeper to the one who was chasing Jimmy around the kitchen. Jimmy, being taller than me, was a lot quicker but he was also clumsy. Like he tripped over his own legs too much. Todd just watched us from the corner of the kitchen, probably glad that the focus wasn't on him anymore.

Jimmy ran around the side of the dinner table and to counter him, I darted around the other side. However, Jimmy didn't see me at all, and we ended up colliding. We hit so hard that the two of us fell to the ground, onto the scattered and crushed Wheaties. Too dazed to be angry anymore, I propped myself up on my elbows to get a better look at Jimmy. He was still lying on his back with his messy hair covered in cereal but he had this huge smile stretched across his face. And before I knew it, he was laughing again. To my surprise, it wasn't long before I felt myself break out into nonsensical laughter as well.

It must have been a very bewildering sight, with the two of us on the ground amongst spilt cereal, laughing about nothing in particular. Quieting my laughter, I looked up to Todd to see if he was laughing with us. He wasn't. In fact, he didn't even show the slightest smile. Jimmy finally propped himself up too and looked at Todd as well. They glared at each other and the silence quickly turned awkward for myself.

"Right, well," I said, as I stood up and brushed myself off. "I can clean this up before I go to the sandlot."

"No, no," Jimmy said, tearing his gaze away from Todd. "I'll get it. Don't wanna keep Benny waiting."

"... Right," I agreed slowly. I didn't really want to leave Jimmy to do it all himself but I really didn't want to make Benny wait either. I looked over to Todd who was still glaring. I was still expecting him to scold us about how childish we were being before he went off to work but to my surprise, he didn't say anything. He just turned on his heel, headed out the door, and was gone.

I frowned. Todd was only seventeen but he acted like he was forty. He even looked older, with his brown hair all combed back, and his clean clothes on. It was odd, comparing him before mom died to what he was now. He used to be so carefree and happy. More like Jimmy, really. He was the one who taught me how to blow a bubble with my gum and how to ride a bike. Todd had been the first one to show me how to climb a tree. He was the one who taught me how to play baseball.

After mom died, though... It was almost like he felt like he needed to grow up. And so he did. He got super responsible and serious. He got a job as soon as he possibly could, in repairing cars. I knew it was because of mom, that he felt like he needed to be there for us and be the strong one, but he would never admit it. I still loved him and I always would but Todd was not the same brother. I knew I hadn't just lost my mom the day she died.

"Andi," Jimmy said, pulling me out of my own memories.

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about him. We all know he's just... Like that."

I nodded my head sadly and looked away. "I know."

"Anyway," Jimmy said, before clearing his throat. "Uh, you better get goin'."

I nodded at him and smiled half-heartedly, before heading out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Jimmy, who was sixteen, really hadn't changed that much in personality. But he never really talked about mom either. None of us did. Instead, he just worked on fixing up his truck. I figured that was how he distracted himself from it. He never got a job but he busied himself with all these random activities, so that he wouldn't have to think about it.

He _certainly_ didn't play baseball anymore though. After mom had died, we stopped playing baseball as a family and we didn't talk about her. Being awkward with our emotions, it was a difficult subject to bring up with each other. And if we were all playing baseball together, like we used too, we'd be force to reminisce about mom, the one subject we all tried to avoid. In the end, we would all end up grieving silently on our own, instead of all together.

All of us had changed after mom died. But as I passed by my father's closed door, I knew that he had changed the most. He never genuinely smiled. There was always a fake note to his laugh. He'd lock himself away for all this time, saying he was writing, but what was he really doing? I hated to think of him, locked away in his dark study, crying all by himself. But what could I do? I couldn't tell him it was okay to open up about his feelings to me when I wasn't even sure if I could handle my own. I just felt so helpless.

In the end, there was only one thing I _really_ knew for certain. We'd be okay when we could play baseball as a family again. When we could all go out on summer evenings as a family, and play a little catch and remember mom and all the good times... That would be when things got better. How long I had to wait for that time though, well...

I didn't know for certain.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: **Ah, at last~ Sorry it's been so long. This was a hard chapter to write! I hope it's enjoyable though!

Thanks again to all who are reading or reviewing! It really keeps me motivated! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And now, onto the story!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own "The Sandlot," or any of its characters.

Chapter 5

Quickly dismissing every previous thought I had had, I threw the door to my room closed, and practically ran to the closest pile of clothes on the floor, eager to shed the red skirt I had been stuck in all day. Fishing through the pile of clothing, I dug out my favorite pair of jeans. They had definitely seen better days, but I loved how comfortable they were. They sure offered a lot more comfort than the skirt I had on at the moment.

As quickly as possible, I tore the skirt off and started inching my way into the pair of jeans. In my excited rush to get the jeans on, I tripped and fell onto the nearest pile of clothes with an, "_Oomph!_" I was in too much of a hurry to even laugh at myself and the awkward situation I had just put myself through. As soon as the jeans were on, I started searching through the pile for a hat.

I had finally found one, but it wasn't mine. I recognized the blue Dodgers baseball cap as Benny's and I smiled a little. Probably a little less than half of the clothes lying on my floor weren't actually mine. They belonged to the guys, but ended up in my room from all the various occasions that they would lend me their shirt or jacket or whatever it was. And need-less-to-say, I was very bad at remembering to return them. Of course, most of it belonged to Benny and he never really seemed to mind if I returned it two days or two months from the time he lent it to me.

Looking at the hat a little longer, I finally decided that a hat was a hat and I put it on. It would also give me the opportunity to return it back to its rightful owner. I sifted through the pile a little bit more and found one of Benny's plaid button up shirts. Without hesitation, I threw that on to, thinking that while I was at it, I may as well return that, too.

Finally, I pulled my mitt and bat out from under the bed. Grabbing the handle of my bat actually felt... Well, really good. It had felt like such a long time since I had used it. Too long, really. Losing myself, I ran my hand gently up the bat, feeling the damaged wood. I felt the place in the wood where it had split slightly and I recalled the summer when Benny had borrowed it briefly.

It was my new baseball bat, only three days old and Benny wanted to try it out. It was going to be quick, he was just going to use it once. But things never work out quite right. He had hit a home run, and he had hit the ball hard, splitting my brand new bat. It was only slightly damaged, so I could still use it, but I can't say I was very pleased. Lucky for Benny though, the hit was pretty impressive, so I wasn't _too_ mad.

To my surprise, I laughed out loud. Looking back on the memory, I found it brought me a sense of happiness. Shaking my head one last time, I ran out of my room, closing the door behind me. Running downstairs, I saw that Todd was still missing and Jimmy had already departed, but as I went out the front door, I still felt the need to call back, "Going to the sandlot, be back in a bit!"

As I ran down the driveway, I looked up and saw Benny standing at the end of it. He also had changed into jeans and a white tee shirt.

He smiled and asked, "Ready to go?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's go!"

And the two of us began jogging towards the direction of the sandlot. We were about half way there, when I felt Benny tap on the bill of the hat I was wearing and push it down in front of my eyes. Surprised at my sudden lack of vision, I slowed to a stop and so did Benny.

"Benny! What's going on here?" I asked.

"Hold still a minute."

I couldn't see anything, but I still had to crack a grin. What could Benny be up to now? I felt for his hand on top of my head and peeled it off, so that I could see again. Not realizing that Benny had moved to be standing right in front of me, I jumped back, surprised at his closeness.

He was grinning, but seemed to be staring at the top of my head, or... The hat. He pushed down the bill once more, blocking my vision, and then let it bounce back up, as he began walking again.

"I see how it is," I heard him laugh as I ran to catch up with him.

"Benny, are you feelin' okay?" I asked, catching up to him.

"Fine. I was just thinking... Now, where have I seen that hat before?" Benny grinned at me sideways and it suddenly made sense. He had been looking at the hat after all. Tugging at his checkered shirt which was currently being worn by me, myself and I, he added, "And this, _this_ rings a bell."

Finally understanding, I snorted and joked, "Yeah, I stole them from this really awesome baseball player."

"And by wearing them, you're hoping that just a _little_ bit," for this, Benny measured out a miniscule amount with his thumb and forefinger, "of his talent will rub off on you, right?"

There was a brief silence between us, and I raised my eyebrow before blurting out, "No, actually I just think he's really, really cute, and so I stalk him and wear his clothing."

"Wow. That's kinda scary. Yet... Flattering," Benny decided, nodding his head. "So, does this mean we should trade clothing?"

Laughing, I rolled my eyes and said, "I hardly think you'll fit into anything I wear. Hell, you've probably grown a foot over the school year!"

"Gotten more muscle, too," he added, flexing his biceps. I really couldn't say anything to that; Benny's arms and chest had become quite defined. A lot more so than the rest of the guys, anyway. I suspected it was a combination of playing baseball, working out, and then, just being a growing boy. In any case, he certainly wasn't the beanpole I grew up with.

Laughing, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to a stop.

"Let's put those muscles to work then," I said, and before Benny could stop me, I hopped on his back. I didn't even give him a chance to argue. Understanding that I wanted him to carry me the rest of the way, Benny handed off his bat to me and wrapped his hands under my legs, without complaining.

"Alright, alright," Benny said, defeated. But he quickly added, "Hope you like running, though."

Laughing, he began to sprint full force down the street, with me clinging tightly to his back. I was surprised at how fast he could go, even with my extra body weight there too. It was as if I wasn't even there. I can't say I minded much though, it was kinda fun going that fast. We certainly arrived at the sandlot earlier than usual, I could see it drawing nearer as Benny continued to run.

"Hey, Mr. Biceps," I said into his ear. "Sandlot coming up on the left."

"'Mr. Biceps?' What, should I start calling you Miss Boobs?"

"'Miss Boobs?'" I laughed, before saying, "_I like it!_"

I felt Benny chuckle and then he turned left by one of the many wooden fences and we entered the sandlot. In reality, it had only been about a week ago that I had last come here, but it still felt like ages ago. Gazing around the empty lot, I admired our dugout, which was still fairly primitive, but had definitely upgraded. I looked at the bases we had made, the ones that were so well loved, they were beginning to fall apart. The sandlot was really in no better shape than usual, but its appearance was never the reason for my sudden happiness.

It was the memories. And I know it sounds sappy, but it really was.

Feeling sentimental always made me uncomfortable, so I quickly distracted myself by tapping on Benny's head.

"Ready to start?"

"Yep," Benny said enthusiastically. "But first..." Benny began, and even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was grinning. "Time to unload some extra luggage."

I felt his hands slide quickly out from under my legs, and without warning, I was dropped to the ground. Landing on my behind, I looked up from my current position in the dirt to where Benny was now laughing. Guessing my reaction, he had already taken a precaution and backed up quite a few steps.

"Andi," He said in between laughs, "You weren't even expecting it!"

Glaring at him, I replied, "You do realize that I have both of the bats, right?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Very original."

Benny rolled his eyes and grinned. "I think we all rub off on each other. Oh, here," Benny said, holding out a hand for me. I looked at his hand for a moment, before looking up at his face. I smiled and raised an eyebrow, as if mentally asking him if he was serious.

"C'mon, Andi. Have a little trust," Benny said, reaching his hand closer.

"Alright," I finally said, taking his hand. His hand tightened around my own, and he helped lift me back on my feet. As soon as I was up, I began brushing myself off; falling into the dirt and dust had left my pants looking more brown than blue. I about jumped out of my skin though when I felt a hand close over my shoulder and each individual finger lay itself down. Turning around, my face was met with that of Squints, and many other laughing faces.

"Squints!" I about shouted. "You practically gave me a heart attack!"

"Really? Well then, my job's done for the day," Squints shot back, smiling and brushing his hands off, as if he had just finished a hard day's labor. Yeah-Yeah came up behind the unsuspecting Squints and grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, well mine's not," he grinned before wrapping and arm around Squints neck, pulling off his cap and messing up his hair. The rest of us laughed while we watched the two struggle with each other. They were both about the same size, but Yeah-Yeah had the element of surprise on his side. After a brief struggle though, Squints managed to push away from Yeah-Yeah.

"Alright already! Can we just play some ball?" Squints said angrily. He looked quite flustered.

Benny stepped forward at that moment and took over.

"I was just about to say that. Alright guys, base up!"

Nobody asked any questions. They had pretty much memorized their roles at this point. I hung back though for a minute. Benny and I usually traded places; when one of us was in the outfield, the other was up to bat. I was pretty sure I knew which position Benny would want, but I stayed behind, just to be sure.

"You up to bat, Benny?" I asked, quickly.

"Unless you want to?"

I smiled slightly. He would always offer the position up to me first, despite the fact that I could completely tell that he really wanted to be batter. That quality, whatever it is, just seemed to be in his nature.

"No, Benny, you can bat. Let's see some fireworks, like you promised, okay?"

He smiled hugely at me, before turning on his heel and running towards home plate. Turning my back to him, I ran further out into the field. Finding my spot, which wasn't too difficult for the spot was almost indented, I slipped on my glove and pounded my fist into it. I watched as Kenny wound up the ball, and then threw it to Benny, who swung and hit it. As expected, the ball flew all the way out to me.

Catching it in my mitt, I threw it to Bertram, who then threw it to Timmy, who threw it back to Kenny. Ham began clapping his hands, saying, "Nice job, guys, nice job!"

We had gotten pretty quick at passing the ball to one another, but need-less-to-say, that was just practice. It wasn't until an hour later that we actually began playing the game seriously. This time around, it was up to those of us out on the field to get Benny out. Of course, I knew the chances of getting Benny out were pretty much the same as those of finding Babe Ruth living in one's closet. It was still fun to try though. That's what made the game, well, _a game_.

So despite the fact that I knew it wouldn't make much a difference, I ran for the ball when it came flying out my way. Feeling it hammer down into my glove, I turned without a second thought and threw it to the closest person, which happened to be Yeah-Yeah. But by the time it got to him, Benny was already sprinting towards third. I watched as Yeah-Yeah ran towards Benny and threw the ball to Squints, who looked like he was just about chasing Benny.

Chasing Benny around the bases really wasn't the best plan though, considering that he was a hell of a lot faster than Squints or Yeah-Yeah. Actually, put their speeds together, and I still don't think they'd have a chance. Fortunately for Benny though, neither seemed to figure this out until Benny was a mere few seconds from home plate. By the time, Squints thought to throw the ball to Ham, Benny had scored himself another home run.

"Nice one, Benny, man," Kenny called out from the pitcher's mound.

"Yeah, that was awesome!"

"That was awesome!"

I smiled and laughed quietly to myself, glad that we weren't the sort of team that would be frustrated by losing out to Benny. Instead, we were honestly happy for him when he won and we appreciated his skills. I think that's how all baseball should be played but then, that's just my opinion. In any case, it's lucky that we were always happy for him because he won a lot. And of course, the rest of the day was no exception.

The only time I got up to bat, I almost scored myself a home run. I actually could have, probably. However, Benny exists, and therefore, he has the power to tag me out when I am but a few feet away from the home plate. Not that that's a bad thing.

"Damn it, I thought I was going to make it that time!" I exclaimed angrily, as I stood up.

"Well, hey, you did better than last time!" Benny quickly pointed out.

"Yeah," Bertram chimed in, "Last time, you only made it to third base."

This resulted in the rest of the guys smacking him with their gloves.

"Hey," I said indignantly, placing a hand on my hip, "I was tired that day!"

"Andi, Andi, listen to me," Benny said soothingly, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"What if I don't wanna listen to you?" I asked hesitantly, letting his hand remain on my shoulder.

Ignoring me, Benny continued, saying, "Andi, you're just a little rusty. You've gotten plenty of home runs before."

When he said it like that, I actually felt worry squirm it's way into my chest. What if I was losing my touch? Could there be something that I didn't know about, slowly eating away at my ability to play the game?

"What if I don't score another home run?" I asked quietly. Just saying it aloud was unnerving.

"Andi, you aren't," Benny reassured me. "Just give it a few days."

I thought about it for a moment, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Somehow, it always managed to calm me down.

Opening my eyes again, I said, "You're right. I'm being silly."

Benny smiled and patted me on the back. "Don't throw in the towel just yet. You're still second best."

"Alright, alright," I said. I could feel a grin begin to spread across my face. "Nice job catching up with me by the way."

"Long legs, you know."

Laughing, I could definitely feel the weight lift off my shoulders. Thinking about not being able to play baseball ever again was always very unsettling. I couldn't even imagine a life without baseball. Sometimes, it felt like my last tie to my mother. The one I would never see again...

"Oh, shit!" I heard Ham burst out suddenly. "I need to get home guys, mom's making burgers tonight!"

Everyone exploded with laughter. It was obvious that he wanted to get home on his own, not that his mom had ordered him to come home early. Well, actually it was already six, but we still considered that early.

"Alright, well, I guess we'll call it a day then," Benny sighed, while picking up his mitt and bat.

"Really? _You're_ calling it a day?" Kenny asked doubtfully, arching one dark eyebrow.

"Shut up, man," said Benny, but he was smiling. "Alright, so meet back here tomorrow at eight, okay guys?"

After agreeing, we all headed our separate directions. Ham ended up running ahead of us. It was obvious that he was eager to return home for the meal his mother had waiting.

"So..." Benny began, breaking the silence, "I get my clothes back, right?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me," I said, shrugging out of his shirt and pulling off the hat. "Here you are."

"What, no interest?" Benny asked, looking down at the pile of clothes. "I mean, I did let you borrow these for a month."

"Yeah, I'll throw in some PF's next time," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Sounds like a plan. So you're still coming over for dinner, right?" Benny asked, as we stopped in front of his house.

"Of course!"

"Awesome."

"I'll go get the family ready and we'll be over in, oh... about a half an hour," I said, finalizing the plans with Benny.

"That sounds great. Mom'll still be cooking by then, but that's okay," Benny nodded his head a few times, thinking it all over.

"Alright, I'll go round 'em up."

"'Round 'em up?'" Benny raised an eyebrow at my choice of wording. I grinned slightly, knowing it sounded weird but it was true. But then, I knew they'd come crashing out of the house once I told them Mrs. Rodriguez was ready for us. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all?

"Oh, you know," I waved my hand dismissively, as if I did this everyday, "I have to get Todd out of the garage and coax dad out of his office, and I'll probably have to bribe Jimmy to come away from that car he's been working on. But hey, I know how they work by now."

"Impressive."

"I know, right?" I laughed. "Alright, see you in a while. Warn your mom that it's a group of hungry men coming over to eat."

"Pft, it's nothing she hasn't seen before," Benny shrugged his shoulders and smiled. I smiled back and finally started to make my way across the street, towards the green house I lived in. I was about half way there when I heard Benny call my name.

"Hey, Andi!"

I turned to look at him, surprised that he still had more to say. Cautiously, I called back to him.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was wondering... Do you always leave your curtains open?"

I snorted, thinking it was a stupid question. "Well, duh. I like the sunshine, so they stay open during the day, and you usually come over at night, so I leave them open for you..." I trailed off, not seeing where this was going.

"Ah," he nodded simply and turned towards his own house. He began walking, leaving me in confusion as to why he had asked in the first place. And then I saw him stop and turn his head, so that he was looking at me. Benny's expression was a mix of being very amused, mischievous, and a little bit guilty. I could tell he was trying to keep his grin in check but he failing miserably.

"I like your panties."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Oh, wow guys! I am _so_ sorry about how long this has taken to update! To tell the truth, I had most of it written, but I had to get around to putting in the finishing touches and that took _forever_. I hope the wait was worth it and that you guys haven't given up on me yet! Anywayz, onto Andi's story~

Disclaimer: I do not own, "The Sandlot," in any way.

Chapter 6

"So," I pronounced slowly, "explain to me exactly what happened, please."

I was currently sitting next to Benny on his bed, eyeing him suspiciously. Earlier, Benny had ran away before I could ask him to elaborate on exactly what he had seen. But now that the family and I were over to dinner, it was only too easy to corner him, and hold an interrogation. In fact, as soon as we had arrived, I had grabbed Benny by the ear and dragged him upstairs.

After seven years of being friends, I knew the exact layout of the house and his family was so used to my presence, that my actions weren't seen as rude. So as I had ushered Benny up the stairs, our parental units had simply smiled and exchanged some whispered words.

The hall way at the top of the stairs took me a while to memorize when I had first starting coming over. There were many doors, both to the left and to the right, all belonging previously to one of his three siblings or his parents. The bathroom was located at the end of the right hall, and there were a few rooms in between that served miscellaneous purposes. Really the only room that I had needed though was Benny's, which was located two doors down the right hall.

If it wasn't already painfully obvious that baseball was Benny's life, all one had to do was walk into his bedroom. Every little shelf was covered in some baseball knickknack. Even his wallpaper was covered with the sport! If a random nobody were to walk into his room, they might have even claimed that Benny was a bit obsessive. But for those of us who did know him, it made sense.

So sitting down on his bed, I usually felt completely at home. _Usually_. Today was not one of those days though.

"Andi, I've explained it a hundred times now!" Benny exclaimed, exasperated. "I was in here, grabbing my baseball stuff, and I saw movement in your window. So I looked up to wave, and bam! That's all it was, I swear! It's not like I'm some creepy guy who likes to watch other people..."

I looked from him to the window across the way, skeptically.

"Honest, Andi," Benny tried again. "I'm no Peeping Tom."

I nodded my head, and finally decided, that after twenty minutes of questioning, I'd let him off the hook. If he insisted it was an accident, I'd believe him. I'd just make sure to draw the curtains from now on.

"Well," I said, smiling, "That's reassuring."

Benny laughed once, and rested back against the headboard. "Glad you finally believe me. You know, you're really hard to convince."

I shrugged, and stuck my nose up in the air. "It's one of my many talents," I replied with a pompous air. Benny laughed, before pulling the pillow out from behind him and tossing it towards me. It hit me lightly in the face, and fell into my hands.

"Yeah, well that's one of my many talents."

I debated for a moment whether I wanted to get even or not, but I finally decided against it. I'd let him off the hook again. Relaxing, I leaned back and crossed my feet.

"What, no revenge?" Benny asked, clearly shocked by my relaxed posture.

"Nah, I'll let you live today," I replied, waving my hand dismissively. Turning my head, I looked to the door. "So, what's it like? Being the last one in the house and all."

"Ah, it's good and it's bad," Benny answered, looking down and picking at fuzz balls on his blanket. "Like, Val can't chase me around, and Aaron and Chris can't try and strangle me, anymore. But being the youngest and now the only one in the house... Well, you know how my mom is..."

"The sweetest woman I know?" I suggested.

"Well, yeah," Benny admitted, grinning. "But also, overly protective. I can't leave the house now without her wondering where I've gone off to, and how long I'll be gone..." He trailed off, grimacing. "I mean, at least when Chris was here, she had two of us to watch over. But now she just has me to focus all her energy on."

"I think I get where you're coming from. How long has Chris been gone now?" I asked, trying to remember how long it was after his graduation that he had moved out.

Benny thought a moment, counting on his fingers. "About a week and a half, I guess."

"Wow, and you're already overwhelmed."

Benny laughed, before replying, "Well, it's all fine and everything, I'm just not used to being the only kid in this house. Grown up with three other siblings, remember?"

I smiled. I did remember. When we had first met, all of his siblings were still in the house and I had slowly gotten to know each and every one of them. All of them had moved out now, but they still stayed in touch with the rest of the family. Benny's family was very closely knit.

Aaron was the oldest, at twenty-two. He was a lot like Benny; polite, good humored, and very friendly. I had come to think of him as my third brother. And then there was Valerie, who had moved out a year ago. She was now nineteen, and while she had always been much more feminine than I (Who wasn't?), we got along. I think I was just really fond of her sarcastic attitude. Lastly, there was Chris, who had just moved out. Chris reminded me a lot of Jimmy and the two got along extremely well. Often the two would team up against Benny and I. It was odd now that he was gone too. Looking to the door again, I realized with a sad smile, that I missed him already.

As I was thinking, a light knocking sounded on the door.

"Come in, mom," Benny said, just loud enough for her to hear. Sure enough, the door cracked open slightly, and Mrs. Rodriguez appeared from behind it. Her dark hair was tied in a low ponytail and it spilled over her shoulder gracefully. It contrasted nicely with the red apron she had on, and she gazed at us with warm eyes. I smiled back, just as warmly. Mrs. Rodriguez was the sweetest, and absolute kindest woman I knew. It hadn't taken me long at all to warm up to her and think of her as a mother figure. She was kind of like that for all the guys.

"Ready to eat, you two? Soups done," she said, beaming.

My ears perked up at that. "Soup?" I asked, eagerly.

"Yes, Andi, soup."

At the second mention of it, my stomach growled ferociously. I hadn't eaten anything in a while and I felt the hunger sinking in to the pit of my stomach. Behind me, Benny started laughing. Patting me on the back, he chuckled, "C'mon, before your stomach eats itself."

Ravenous from hunger, I raced down the stairs and turned a corner into the kitchen. My brothers were already seated at the table, but my father was still standing, busy talking to Mr. Rodriguez.

Benny really didn't look much like his father. He had his father's height and build, but his face resembled his mother's much more. His father's eyes were smaller, and dark brown, while Benny's were the wonderful hazel I had grown so accustomed too. The two were also a bit different in personality. They were both polite and caring, but Benny was warmer.

"Alright everyone, sit down, sit down..." Mrs. Rodriguez announced as she walked in, Benny right along side her. "We don't want the soup to get cold."

It didn't take more than that for us to all rush around the table and wait impatiently for the soup to get to us. As soon as the creamy liquid spilled into my dish, I shoved my spoon into the bowl and into my mouth. And while it tasted like a piece of heaven, it was just my luck that it was still scalding. Opening my mouth, I tried to fan the soup that was burning my tongue without spilling any onto Mrs. Rodriguez's nice tablecloth. Finally unable to help it, I swallowed the hot soup down and about choked on it. Smooth.

Seeing my frantic hand motions and watery eyes, Benny half laughed, "Andi, you should know better. Here," he said as he passed me a glass of milk. Upon seeing it, I ripped the glass out of his hands and proceeded to flush it down my burning throat, as Benny beside me chanted, _"Chug, chug, chug!_"

"Benjamin, that's enough," Benny's dad scolded lightly. He always did that; Benny's dad had a way of telling someone to stop in a very polite way, but he had this tone that made things final. I wasn't sure what to make of it.

After we finished dinner, which was concluded about five minutes after it began, my dad and brothers crowded to the door. Supposing it was time to go, I turned to Benny's family to say goodbye.

"You and your family know you're always welcome over here," Mrs. Rodriguez said softly to me.

"Yeah... Thanks for that," I said uneasily, scratching the back of my head. The next thing I knew, Mrs. Rodriguez had her arms around me.

As I was engulfed into Mrs. Rodriguez's arms, a warm feeling washed over me. It was the kind that makes a person feel safe and like they're right where they belong. I guess it's the kind of feeling a child gets when it's held by it's mother. You can't find a tender love like that anywhere else.

Feeling a slight prickling in my eyes, I pulled away from Mrs. Rodriguez, saying, "Thanks again... For dinner. It was wonderful... As usual."

"Yes, thank you both. I'm not sure where any of us would have gotten our next good meal," my dad added in, shaking both Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez's hands. After a few more handshakes, some goodbyes and making plans with Benny for the next day, we finally headed back across the street.

Upon arriving home, we all gathered in the kitchen, our stomach's happily full of Mrs. Rodriguez's cooking. Dad made up a pot of coffee, and poured us each some. There was still a bit of tension between all of us as we talked, but I felt calmer than usual. Of course, that didn't last.

"Alright, well, you kids get to bed soon, alright?" Dad said, looking back at us. He smiled at us in a soft, sort of fond way, and then disappeared up the stairs. Turning back to my brothers, I saw Jimmy stretch and yawn loudly.

"Yep, time to hit the hay," Jimmy said, as he walked around the table. Pulling me into a half hug, he kissed the top of my straggly hair, and said, "'Night, sis."

"Good night," I said, smiling. Jimmy smiled back and then looked at Todd, who was gazing up at him from over his cup of coffee. I waited in awkward silence for one to say something to the other. I was sure they were remembering what had happened earlier.

"Well, 'night, Todd," Jimmy finally said, as politely as possible.

"Yeah, see ya in the mornin'," Todd sighed, looking back down at the cup in his hands. Jimmy nodded, yawned once more and then went up the stairs too. I looked from the stairs to Todd, wondering if they would ever be able to get along again. I wanted to think they could, but the logical part of me realized they were too different.

Sighing quietly, I looked back to Todd and asked, "You going up soon?"

Still looking down, he shrugged, before saying, "Yeah, probably."

"Alright. Well," I started hesitantly, "Good night, Todd."

Getting up, I pushed in my chair slowly and then proceeded to walk towards the stairs. I tried to be slow, just in case Todd called me back to say something; anything. But he didn't. Peaking around the wall, I saw that he was still just sitting there, swirling his coffee. I knew he felt bad about earlier. Todd wasn't the type to want to start fights, but he did get frustrated easily. And I knew he hated fighting with us; he always seemed so down afterwards.

Shaking my head, I slowly started up the stairs. Upon reaching my bedroom, I quietly shut the door, before making my way over to the window. I didn't see anyone in Benny's room, but I decided to close the curtains anyway. Pulling on an old t-shirt and some pajama bottoms, I turned off the light and crawled under the covers.

But I didn't fall asleep. Peeking my head out from under the covers, I looked to the crack between my door and the floor, and watched the light that was coming in. I knew it was the light from the kitchen, and that meant that Todd was still up. I don't know why, but the thought of him alone in the kitchen disturbed me. So I stayed awake and watched the light until it went out, and I heard his heavy footsteps come up the stairs.

Shuddering from an unknown cold, I hid beneath my covers once more. Our household was so lonely without her. No, it wasn't just that; it was incomplete without her. And that was something I couldn't ever escape. Whenever I thought about her, I'd still always think about how it had all started.

Mom had gotten sick. Well, no, it wasn't even really that. When someone's sick with a cold or the flu, they can get better. But my mom couldn't get better. She got cancer, and from what I know about it, once it spreads too much, it can't be cured. And so that's what happened.

My mom was strong and stubborn. She was a fighter and at first, we were sure she'd make it a for a while. But it became too strong, and she was gone in a year's time. I guess we should count ourselves lucky; not many make it that long. We got to spend time with her before she passed.

But I still can't think about her without remembering the day the doctor's told her, or the day when I first saw her cry... Or that final week. It may have been over half a decade ago, but the pain and the memories were still so fresh. I knew it was like that for the rest of the family as well.

I thought to earlier when Todd had looked at us with such anger and disappointment. And I thought about how Jimmy always seemed to avoid us, how he always kept so busy. And most of all, I thought about dad. Would he ever be able to laugh again...?

It took me a while to realize that I was crying. I could feel the droplets of my own salty tears as they slid slowly down my face, and fell onto my hand, which was closed into a fist near my mouth. It took all of my power to keep my sobs stifled and I wished that I had a distraction. If only Benny would come hopping through the window...

It was as if someone had heard me wish for Benny to come. After about five minutes of crying, I heard the window creak open. Somehow, Benny always knew when I needed him most.

I heard his feet hit the floor, and I listened as he quietly tiptoed over to my bedside. I knew it wouldn't matter if I stayed silent aside from the choked sobs. Something funny about being best friends was that there were moments when the two of us would not say a word to each other and yet knew absolutely everything the other was feeling. Or rather, _understand_ everything the other was feeling. So I simply remained quiet and waited for Benny to sit down on the side of the bed and pat my head or rub my back consolingly like he usually did.

However, I was surprised when he did nothing of the sort. Instead, I felt the covers pulled up and I felt his weight shift in beside me. I felt one arm wrap around my shoulders as he pulled me towards him, resting my head on his chest and his cheek on the top of my head. I was too shocked by his bold actions to say anything at first, so I just let it all happen.

"What's up?" Benny asked me very quietly, soothingly. I relaxed slightly at feeling his mouth move against my hair, which he was currently running his fingers through affectionately.

"I was thinking about mom," I managed to whisper, stupidly. Of course I was thinking about her. It was the only thing that ever made me cry. Benny didn't tell me it was stupid though. I felt him nod his head understandingly.

"What were you thinking about her?" He continued to question. Benny definitely knew that there were different reasons every time, and he always made it his mission to figure out what the particular situation was. My tears lessened a little as I was soothed by his voice and him pulling his fingers through my hair. I thought about why I was crying over mom again. Sometimes it was just because I missed her. Other times I didn't really know why. But I knew why that night.

"It's just," I began, wiping my eyes a little, "I was thinking about how much the family has changed and how different we are without her. I mean, Dad's never happy and Todd's no fun anymore and Jimmy's pretty much the same, but he's still taking it hard. We all are, in our own ways I guess." I sniffed again before continuing. "You'd think after seven years, I'd be used to how different the family is. But..." I trailed off, and another tear slid out of the corner of my eye. Dammit, and I had just stopped crying.

"... You're not," Benny finished for me. I remained quiet but nodded my head.

"I just know we'd be better off if she was still here," I managed to choke out.

I stayed quiet after that, knowing that I really couldn't speak anymore. I felt Benny shift beside me, obviously trying to find something to say. I knew this was all pretty tricky for him to help with, especially since he didn't have any close experiences with death, himself. Personally though, I was glad he hadn't.

"Listen, Andi," he began, uncertainly. I waited for him to continue. "I... I don't think your mom would want you to be unhappy. I mean, I didn't know her or anything," he added quickly, "but I really don't feel like your mom... Or any mom really, would want their family to be unhappy, you know?"

I nodded my head slowly and he continued.

"I mean, I know it's hard. Or actually, I don't really know," Benny corrected himself. "But, I think... I don't know, I think everything usually seems to turn out okay. Or at least, in the best possible way that it could have..." He trailed off, before asking quickly, "Does that make sense?"

I nodded my head slowly, still letting his words sink in. I could tell he was nervous about what he had said, but from what I could pick out from his jumble of words did make sense. This was the side of Benny that most didn't get to see, but I had come to appreciate him.

Wiping some tears away, I said quietly, "I think mom would have liked you, Benny."

His returning laugh was a bit shaky. "Really?" He asked me. "That's nice to hear."

I smiled slightly, and then with some effort, pushed myself into a sitting position. Rubbing my eyes with the palm of my hand one last time, I sighed, releasing all the tension I had been feeling. Benny sat up beside me.

"Do you wanna go to the sandlot?"

"Sure," I replied. As Benny moved off the bed, I suddenly noticed his shirt was wet with my tears.

"Oh, Benny," I said quietly. "Look at yourself, you're soaked!"

"Huh? Oh," Benny said, looking down at his wet shirt. "Don't worry about it, Andi."

"No, no. I've got to have at least one of your shirts lying around here somewhere..."

Climbing down from the bed, I began digging through the piles of clothing. Benny knelt down and started sifting through one as well.

"Oh, found one!" I heard Benny say quietly behind me. He had found one of his plain white T-shirts, and quickly shedding the wet one he had on, he threw on the new find. Taking the wet shirt, I hung it up over one of my chairs to dry. Throwing on some shoes of my own, I was finally ready for our quick run to the sandlot.

"Ready?" Benny asked me, like he always did, with a small smile. I smiled back, took his outstretched hand, and we slowly climbed out the window.

~*~

Getting back in through the window was never very hard. It was the keeping quiet part that was. Slipping inside, our feet hit the floor so slowly and quietly, I was sure that no one had heard. Tiptoeing over to the bed, I pulled off my shoes before sliding in under the covers. Benny mimicked my actions.

I felt Benny wrap his arm comfortingly around my shoulders once more, and I was automatically overwhelmed by how grateful I was for having him around.

"Thank you," I said quietly, beginning to feel the want for sleep take over.

"Ah, it's nothing," Benny said, swatting his hand through the air. "You'd do the same for me."

"You're my best friend. It's my job," I said, shrugging tiredly.

"It's mine too."

I smiled and stared up at the ceiling for a while, just listening to our slow breathing. Light was spilling in through my window, like it usually did, from the moon that only rested once a month. I felt Benny shift beside me, so I looked over and watched as he propped himself up on his elbow. He looked down at me for a moment, with a thoughtful expression.

I stared back, before asking, "What?"

"Your eyes," he said simply. "There's something really different about them."

"You mean like, my eyes are changing? 'Cause if they are, that's a bit concerning."

"No, no," I felt the bed shake a little as he chuckled. "Like, it's probably always been there, but I'm just now noticing it."

"You mean you just now started looking at my eyes? For shame, Benny! And here I thought we were best friends," I shook my head in mock disappointment and then covered my eyes. "Quick! Tell me what color they are!"

"They're blue, Andi," I heard Benny sigh, and I could just about picture him rolling his own hazel eyes.

"Oh, yay! You do know what color they are! Benny, I am so happy," I said, clapping my hands softly. Benny rolled his eyes at me again before pulling the covers up over my head.

"Alright, someone's a little bit tired."

"I'm okay," I said indignantly, pulling the covers back off, but even as I said it, I yawned. Benny raised an eyebrow and I grinned guiltily. Yawning again, I stretched before continuing to watch Benny, while he watched me. We stared at each other for what felt like a very long time, before Benny finally spoke.

"There's just something about your eyes... But I can't put my finger on what that is," Benny said, pursing his lips in thought.

"They're really, really blue?" I suggested, shrugging my shoulders.

"Well, yeah," Benny agreed, "but that's not it, either. It's something else." He nodded his head a few times, absentmindedly, before deciding, "One of these days, I'm going to figure out what it is."

"Yeah, we'll see how that goes," I said weakly, rolling my eyes. I yawned hugely, before snuggling closer to Benny. "You staying the night?"

"Unless you don't want me here."

"Ridiculous," I mumbled, closing my eyes.

"Alright, alright," I heard him say. I felt him organize himself and get comfortable beside me, before saying quietly, "Sleep tight, Andi."


	8. Chapter 8

Hello, my beautiful readers and fan girls!

I'm back, and I cannot say enough how sorry I am that this has taken so long to be written. My life decided to kick it into fast gear, but luckily, it is slowing down now, so I can take more time for my story! For those of you who have not been informed, I am going to finish this thing! I am determined to see it done!

Also, I should inform you lovely people that I have figured out the rest of the plot and there will be exactly 20 chapters. That doesn't sound like much, but my chapters are thick, so hang in there everybody! We're in for a bumpy but enjoyable ride.

Lastly, I just want to give a BIG thank you to all of you readers and those of you who have left comments – You girls' (And possibly a guy or two?) rock! You're the reason I gotta finish this thing! Any who, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Sandlot," or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

Everything was fuzzy and dark. Focusing in on the darkness, I saw there was a slight movement to it, like static on a broken TV. That's how I knew I was in that stage between reality and dream. I wasn't awake, but I wasn't seeing the vivid colors and images of my dreams either. At the moment, I was just lightly sleeping. And then I heard a quiet chuckling coming from beside me.

Stirring, I opened my eyes partially and then closed them quickly as a shock of light came from the window. Rubbing my eyes, I opened them again and stretched. Yawning, I sat up and bumped into Benny who had been previously watching me. He continued to laugh quietly.

"What?" I asked sleepily, stretching again before deciding to lie back down.

"You're just so cute when you snore," Benny said smiling, as he reached back and poked my nose.

"What?" I asked, shocked. "I do not snore!"

"Yes, you do," he said in a singsong sort of way.

"Well, well- my nose is full of snot!" I finished lamely. Sighing, I looked to the side and thoughts of last night crept into my mind. It still hurt - I mean it always would - but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"So," Benny began gently, "You okay?"

Sitting back up, I stretched my arms and back, carefully taking note of any pain or aches. Setting my jaw, I nodded a little bit and looked out the window. It was sunny.

"Yeah," I said, staring out the window still. "Yeah, I feel a lot better."

"Good," I heard Benny say back with feeling. I then felt him pat me on the back, and I felt his weight shift as he hopped out of bed.

Turning to him, I smiled. "Thanks, Benny."

"No problem," He smiled back and then moved to the window. "I'm gonna sneak back now before anyone notices. Come over for breakfast when you're ready, okay?"

"Sure thing, Benny. Sure thing."

After Benny had hopped out the window and gone, I picked out my outfit for the day - which in my case really meant choosing a random top and bottoms off the floor and calling it good. Looking in the mirror to see how my hair was holding up, I found that the random top was a simple white tank and the pants were my favorite comfy pair of jeans. Well, that was good. Simple and easy - just the way I liked to dress.

At least it made up for my hair, which was never simple and easy. As usual, it was crazy, messy and everywhere it shouldn't be. For whatever reason though, I didn't really seem to care. I was tired, so I just picked a cap from my floor, threw it on and then ran out the door. I didn't need to let anyone know I was going, so I simply slipped out the door quietly and ran across the street.

Moments after knocking, Benny greeted me at the door… With a giant ass hug I had not been expecting.

"Hey, Andi," he said into my hat. He had his arms around me tightly, as if he were worried that if he released me, I'd fall to pieces. The gesture was very unlike him, to say the least and I was feeling just a tad uncomfortable.

"Benny? What's this all about?" I asked, awkwardly patting his back. He pulled away and looked at me skeptically with those hazel eyes, as if he were searching for something. Before he could open his mouth to say what I knew was coming though, I interrupted him.

"Benny, really - I'm okay! It's at the back now. Thanks for caring, but really, don't worry, okay?"

"Well," he began slowly, "I guess if you say you're alright. I just want to make sure you know?"

I was happy that he seemed to be letting it go quickly - I really didn't want to get back into the subject right away, so taking advantage of his willingness to believe what I said, I smiled and replied, "I know Ben and thanks. I'd be doing the same thing if it were you. But really, it's okay."

He looked at me for only a second or two before saying, "Okay, well come in then and we'll eat somethin' before going."

Just at the word eat, my stomach let out a huge gurgle that surprised Benny and even myself. Wide-eyed, my hand flew to my tummy and I thought about the last time I had ate something. It had been Mrs. Rodriguez's dinner. Yeah, that definitely explained it.

"Food sound good?" Benny asked, looking at my stomach with a slightly concerned but curious face. Almost as if it were listening, it let off another long groan and despite my embarrassment, Benny started laughing.

"Food sounds great," I replied for my stomach and I quickly removed my shoes before barging into the house. Benny, still laughing, put up his hands defensively as he stepped out of my way and then followed me to the kitchen. Picking a chair, I sat down by the island and watched Benny as he pulled a box of Wheaties out of the cupboard and then some milk out of the fridge.

Setting them down in front of me, Benny took another seat before asking me, "Is cereal alright?"

"Yeah, it is… Bowls and spoons though?" I replied, noticing the lack of utensils.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, a little out of it," Benny looked down and smiled slightly, while shaking his head. Getting up, he grabbed the necessary equipment for eating cereal and sat back down. "Always need something fancy like a spoon, don't you Andi?" Benny joked with me.

Sticking my nose in the air, I replied, "But of course! It'd be a disgrace to eat with my fingers!"

We both started laughing. It was obviously going to be one of those mornings. Taking turns, Benny poured some cereal into his bowl and then passed it along to me. My stomach started growling again, and fueled by my hunger, I dumped a large amount of the Wheaties into my bowl. Benny kinda smiled at that before looking to the side and taking a big swig out of the milk carton.

"Oh, nice edition. Now when I pour myself some milk, I'll be getting your spit along with it," I chastised him. I really didn't care that much, but I'm sure his mom did.

"What?" Benny asked, looking shocked. "Andi? My best friend since forever who's never cared about stuff like mud or dirt and who ate a worm once because I dared her to…"

"Hey! I only bit off a little!"

"Whatever, it was totally the whole worm," Benny objected before continuing, "Andi, who ate a worm, afraid of a little spit? I seriously think something is still wrong with you. You're acting very… weird. More grossed out by stuff. It's like you're turning into a girl."

"A girl?" I asked in a mock surprised voice. "You don't say!"

Rolling his eyes at me, he turned away to take another large gulp from the carton, but not before he said, "I dunno, you're just acting kinda funny. Almost like… Almost like Phillips asked you out!" He started laughing at his little joke.

"But Benny," I said with a serious face. "He did ask me out and I said yes."

I was expecting a hilarious reaction from Benny and that's why I said it in the first place. I mean, if he was going to tease me about nasty things like me and Phillips actually getting together, I would tease him right back! However, I wasn't expecting him to spit milk everywhere.

"What?" Benny practically shouted at me, his voice actually breaking. That made me start laughing - It was a rare occasion when I actually got to hear Benny's changing voice. It should have been pretty much done changing, but I bet there were a few things left to fix before his voice was completely done.

"What?" I said, still laughing. "I was just joking!"

I watched as Benny let out a big breath, while clutching his chest, acting as if he had had a heart attack.

"Benny, me and you both know he wouldn't ask me out in a million years. And we both know I would never say yes if he did!"

"Well," Benny said, eyeing me suspiciously, while grabbing a rag to clean up the spewed milk, "Okay."

I rolled my eyes at the pointedly suspicious look Benny was giving me - He had to be crazy if he actually thought Phillips would be stupid enough to ever ask me out and me even stupider for saying yes. In fact, it was almost insulting that he would think that of me. Humph.

"Okay, I'm just gonna finish clearing this up and then we'll go, okay?"

"Sounds good… Oh, hey, do you want a hand with that?" I asked, trying to be considerate even though he was the one who spit milk everywhere.

He waved a hand at me, saying, "I got it Andi, don't worry." And he was right about me not having to worry - he had the mess cleaned up within a couple of minutes.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" Benny said as he picked a glove and baseball bat up off the floor and started walking towards the front door. Trailing after him, I worked on tucking some runaway stands of hair behind my ears.

I took time to slyly notice from under my eyelashes what he was wearing as I followed behind him - one of his three-quarter sleeve shirts and a plaid button up shirt undone over top of that. He had on his typical jeans and black converse too. I watched as he pulled his ball cap on over top of his messy brown hair and almost sighed internally - he had such nice hair. In any case, he looked good.

Before he could turn in time to see what I was sure was a stupid smile plastered to my face, I started slipping on my own converse, focusing on where we were headed. Opening the door, he looked back at me and gave me a smile and a thumbs up. I returned the gesture and we were off.

Our journey down the road began very quietly. It was still morning - probably close to 8 - and the sun was shining beautifully, casting a nice warm light down the road and along the houses. Everything was still quiet, but at the same time, the world around us had a feeling of waking up. It was nice, and I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. At least while it lasted.

My reaction, when Benny decided to jab me in the side and scare me, was to let out a high-pitched scream (a very girly one at that), something that I didn't even realize I was capable of. I also didn't realize that I was capable of delivering a punch to Benny's ribs that could make him stumble around, gasping. Once again, simultaneously, Benny was able to make me feel sorry for him and pissed as hell at him.

"Jesus, Benny! What was that about?" I demanded, still clutching my side. It wasn't that it hurt, I was just extremely ticklish there and it didn't help that I was completely humiliated after screaming like that. I watched him put a hand on a fence near us to steady him, all the while clutching his sore rib. Now that, I could guarantee, did hurt.

He took a few more deep breaths, before responding slowly and slightly out of breath, "Okay, I deserved that."

"Damn right, you deserved that."

He winced again before continuing, "It was just so quiet… I thought I'd liven things up a bit."

"Well, you didn't need to "liven" things up that way!" I replied angrily. "I was enjoying the scenery, in case you couldn't tell, you, you - you stupid head!"

"Wow, Andi, I think you broke something," Benny said, rubbing his side gingerly. I noticed he was ignoring me.

Grumbling under my breath, I turned on my heel and started walking down the street, shouting behind me, "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah, right behind you. I'll just crawl there…" I heard the weak reply come from behind me.

"Don't be such a baby!" I hissed back.

We walked the rest of the way in silence; me storming down the street and Benny, moping along behind me. More than likely, he was just pouting because I'd hit him so hard, not because he feared for our friendship. He knew as well as I did that I'd eventually come around, especially once we started playing. That was how our arguments usually went. He would do something stupid to upset me, I would give him the silent treatment for a little while, and then we'd be back on good terms.

We had never really had any serious fights. This fact made me happy for some reason. I guess because it meant we didn't have anything big to argue about - just stupid, little stuff. I'll admit too that the only reason they really turned into arguments were because I was easily irritated. My irritability made up for Benny's lack of it.

Arriving at the sandlot was a sort of relief for me after the long angry walk there. Most of the boys had already arrived. I counted everyone but Squints and Yeah-Yeah.

"Hey, you guys know where Squints or Yeah-Yeah are?" I called out to the rest of them.

"Knowing them, they're fighting in a bush somewhere," Bertram replied, giggling to himself at the mental image.

"Well, let's start warming up. Base up, guys," Benny said, already heading towards first. Everyone followed his instructions and slowly, we moved into position.

My left center position was… Well, left center, but also near the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the sandlot. The section I was closest to was older and more worn, but that was because Mr. Mertle lived on the opposite side of the fence. Mr. Mertle had lived in the house since who knows when and we all referred to him as the "Junkyard Man," because of the numerous piles of trash in his backyard. He was known to hate kids and we were all kinda scared of him. But even creepier than him or the backyard heaped with crap, was what he housed in the backyard.

Some said it ate people. We heard that it had even eaten a kid who was brave enough to jump the fence to retrieve a ball he had hit over. I'd never really gotten a good look at the thing (Frankly, I didn't want to) but there were times when I could hear it stompin' around back there and breathing all heavily and stuff. All I knew about it was what I had learned from others, and the summary of all that came to this: it was some sort of big, ferocious, drooling beast. "The Beast," we all called it.

Feeling the goose bumps start along my spine was enough to tell me that I was thinking too much about the thing on the other side of the fence. I refocused in on the game, trying to ignore my acute awareness of the noises behind me.

As I looked to where the guys were, I noticed Squints and Yeah-Yeah had showed up. Finally. Benny shouted the plan for where the ball was headed, and we were off, catching and passing. We were getting faster and faster and it was actually sort of impressive. We would be ready for a game against Phillips in no time.

I watched as Kenny threw the ball to Ham, who caught it and handed it off to Benny. Benny looked at the team to make sure we were ready before tossing it up in the air and hitting it hard. It was actually a pretty impressive hit for a practice one - I stayed where I was and followed the ball with my eyes as it flew up and up and over my head.

I turned around just in time to see it nail the new boy who was standing behind me, probably a few yards back. He crashed to the ground and the ball rolled off into the bushes.

My hand flew to my mouth and I couldn't help but think to myself, Shit, bad first impression.

Behind me, I could hear the guys erupt in mocking laughter. I felt really sorry for the new kid - this was not how I'd expected things to play out at all. I expected Benny to ask him sometime to join us and to introduce him to the guys and everything. I didn't actually think he'd follow us to the sandlot trying to join in, only to end up embarrassing himself in front of the guys. This was not good.

Watching him fumble around with the ball only made my stomach sink faster. He was mumbling something to himself and his cheeks were stained pink. I was feeling some major sympathy pains for this kid.

From behind me, I heard Squints call in an arrogant tone that made me want to sock him, "We are waiting!"

Hurrying away from the fence, as if something had frightened him, the kid moved close enough to me that I could see him clearly. He was a small thing - possibly even smaller than my five feet - with dozens of freckles trailing across his pale face. His hair was covered by an outrageous ball cap that none of us would be caught dead wearing, mainly because of the huge bill. His shirt wasn't crumpled or stained in the slightest and was even tucked in all nice and neat to his khaki shorts. I wasn't going to kid myself; he looked like a real momma's boy.

None-the-less, I was rooting for him. I wanted this kid to join the team and I was sure praying in that moment that he would show us all some fireworks. All my hopes were dashed though, the second he bent his awkward knees and held the ball with a "What the hell do I do now expression?"

He threw the ball. The ball landed about two yards away from where he was. Two, whole yards. What the heck was I getting myself into?

The guys started their cackling again and the boy looked down before running out of the sandlot, like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. I felt really bad then; I almost called him back but decided better of it. He was embarrassed enough; I didn't want to put him through anymore. I knew what it was like to be rejected by an entire team.

Still, Benny and I had to try and fix this before the kid didn't ever want anything to do with us again… And avoid coming to play with us. Looking back at the guys, I took notice that the only one not laughing was Benny. He was shaking his head. His expression was annoyed, probably because of the guys. That was good. But there was also some disappointment in it and I knew it was because like me, his hopes had been dashed. And that was very, very bad.

Staring straight at him, I finally got him to look at me. We locked eyes, and I could tell by the way he pursed his lips that he got what I was thinking – Despite everything, I still wanted the kid on the team.

"Knock it off, already!" I finally shouted at the guys, getting tired of their laughing and stupid reenactments.

"Oooh, sorry Andi! We didn't realize you had feelings for the guy!" Ham teased. I knew he was kidding, but the comment still made me want to slap him.

"She's right guys, shut it," Benny finally intervened. The team went silent. Of course they listened to Benny.

Looking at Benny again, I tried to force him with my eyes to agree to train this kid with me. He still looked skeptical. We both had a stubbornness that could match a bull's, so I knew it would come down to a matter of whoever felt stronger about their argument. I stared at him more intensely. The silent argument waged between us for a few moments more, before Benny finally gave in. I could tell even from where I was standing that he was shaking his head slowly with a small smile on his face. It was his baffled look, the kind of look he only ever gave me because I was the only one who ever won arguments with him.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, everybody! I'm not dead yet. I noticed recently that the last time I updated the story was on June 21st of 2011. Seeing as that is exactly one year ago from today, I knew I wanted to get the latest chapter ready to post. I must apologize again also for taking so long to publish this chapter! School really takes up all of my attention. Now that summer is here though, I've been working on this pretty heavily. I am hoping for this "one chapter per year" curse to be over, and am hesitantly hopeful that I can get the next chapter up around the end of July. I have nothing written for the next chapter, but it is considerably shorter than this one, so again, I will try to get another chapter up soon! Thank you all for sticking with this. I can't make any promises, but I will try to post more often! The one promise I can make though is that I will finish this fanfiction. Have a lovely day!

Chapter 8

Four days had passed, and there was still no sign of the kid. Every day, Benny and me would pass that awful pink house on our way to the sandlot, searching carefully with our eyes for the boy. There was never anything though – not even any activity coming from whomever else lived there with him. The only thing that confirmed to us that they hadn't packed up and moved in the middle of the night was the fact that their car was still sitting in the drive.

A few more days passed and I was starting to give up hope. I supposed we would see him in the fall, but then we wouldn't be able to play as much. More importantly, we'd have lost our chance to go up against Phillips before high school. He and his teammates would have to try out for the high school team then. The guys would, too. No doubt about it, we'd never have the chance to do this again.

I'm not sure why it was so important to show up Phillips and his damn team. I guess it was a sort of personal vengeance. I could steal some of the pride the guys felt after they kicked the Little Leaguer's asses, even though I wouldn't be able to directly help. It would feel good to know they were being put in their place. Yep, it was a childish want. But I was only fourteen, so you can't blame me too much for wanting to best the town bullies at their own game.

That's why we needed that kid. That's why I wanted him for the team and even though it had been almost a week, I still looked to the house, wanting to see him there. Benny had stopped looking and usually just ignored me but on the seventh day, he watched me as I ogled the house for a few seconds.

"Andi, you're not gonna see him. You know that, right?"

Tearing my eyes away from the house, I looked at Benny sadly and replied, "Yeah, I'm starting to think that too."

"It's cool, Andi, I wouldn't worry about it," Benny said, shrugging and being nonchalant. A part of his response I'm sure, was that he wasn't really too interested in letting the kid on the team. He was more doing it for my happiness.

"Hm," I thought quietly, looking back at the house. "You know, I think I'm going to have to change my summer goal to finding him."

Benny laughed. "You have a summer goal? That's so cute, Andi."

"Shut up! I'm completely serious!"

"Hey," Benny started to say, "If this is your new goal, what was your old goal?"

"Getting you out," I replied immediately, grinning mischievously.

"Pft, impossible!"

"No! Well, okay, close to it. I figure this is the last year I'll stand a chance against you, so I want to try and get you out this summer!" I began walking a little, before looking back at him from under my eyelashes. "So you better watch yourself, Rodriguez, 'cause I'm coming to get ya."

I started running then as fast as I could, laughing loudly when I heard Benny's "Hey!" I heard his footsteps follow then. I knew I couldn't outrun him forever, but I was surprised that I made it as far as a block from Vincent's drug store. Feeling his hand wrap around my waist lightly, we both slowed to a stop, panting heavily.

"See," I said between breaths. "I'm... Better... Than you thought!"

He looked up at me, as he was bent over with his hands resting on his knees, and smiled hugely.

"You're pretty good. Still, I was going easy on you."

"Oh really?" I said, but even as I said it I noticed, to my extreme disappointment, that he wasn't panting quite as heavily as me. "Wait a minute, why'd you go easy on me? You weren't supposed to!" I said, stomping my foot like an irritated five year old.

"Why not?" He asked just to tease me. Standing up, he rested his hands on his waist and waited for a response, all the while smiling happily.

"Because I thought I was good for a moment! You got my hopes up, Benny," I sighed and threw my hands up in the air. "Now I'm embarrassed!"

Benny started laughing at that. "I'm gonna embarrass you more. Did you know you could flirt?"

I practically choked on my own spit – not an easy task I might add. "What?"

"Yeah, you gave me that flirty look back there. It caught me off guard."

"What?" I repeated. "I did not give no damn, stinkin' flirty look!"

"Well, you did back there," Benny shot back, pointing towards home. "That's why I didn't catch up to you as fast. And then why I went easy on you."

"But, but," I stammered, struggling to understand this nonsense. I was not a flirter. I didn't even know how. I assumed that was something moms or girlfriends were supposed to show you how to do, and since I didn't really have either, I was clueless. The only people I had to go to for advice on stuff like that were guys and I plain just didn't go to them for that. The only things I'd learned from watching them were to whistle at good lookin' people and be loose with compliments. Neither seemed right.

"Look, Andi," Benny said, pulling me from my daydream with that damn smile still on his face, "You tilted your head, batted your eyelashes and had this like... Smile. I don't know how to describe it Andi, but it was definitely flirty."

I sighed. Now I was really embarrassed.

"It's okay, Andi," Benny said, laughing. "It was kinda cute, honest."

"Whatever. I could not be less cute if I tried," I replied back, finally starting to laugh, too. It was surprising to hear Benny say I had been flirty – again, I wasn't even sure if I knew how – but at least he wasn't acting like it was gross or something.

After we finished laughing, Benny and me headed towards Vincent's. The store had been there forever, and it was where we had always bought our baseballs. They had the cheapest in town – only 98 cents a ball. Usually we'd meet the guys at the sandlot, but on days like today when we needed a ball, we'd meet up behind Vincent's, where we'd decide who would be the next to use his allowance on the new baseball.

"C'mon," Benny motioned to me, as he entered the store.

"But," I began, confused, "Isn't it someone else's turn?"

I followed him into the store, curious as to why he was already barging in. He walked straight to the baseballs and began looking for a good one. He had some theory about which ones were better – I didn't buy it. They were all baseballs to me.

"Yeah, it's Timmy and Tommy's turn," he replied absentmindedly, while fiddling with a baseball. "But their allowances have been pretty small lately and I don't wanna waste time trying to decide who wants to cover for 'em."

"That's nice of you," I said quietly. I was surprised but at the same time not. Benny would cover anybody on his team.

"I guess. I kinda just want to go play," he admitted, toying with another baseball. He looked at it a little closer before nodding his head once, deciding that that was the one. I followed him up to the counter, where we were rung up. Benny handed the man his change, the ball was passed back across the counter and we ran out of the store. Turning the corner out of the store, I quickly came to a shocked stop when I almost knocked a girl in a fancy dress over.

"Sorry!" I quickly said, grabbing her shoulders to steady her. She brushed my hands away with a disgusted look.

"Watch where you're going," she replied tartly. I was taken aback by her rudeness. I mean sure, I had almost knocked her over. But I had apologized and even helped her steady herself. What was her problem?

Taking a good look at her, I tried to see if I possibly recognized her. She had long red hair that trailed down her left shoulder in soft curls and pale skin. She looked maybe a year older and was taller than me, but that could have been because she was wearing heels. Her eyes were blue like mine but darker, colder almost. She was pretty. She had an average, girl-next-door type of beauty going for her.

"What are you looking at?" The girl asked me, still looking at me with her pert nose scrunched up. "Learning what it means to apply make-up? Because you could really use some."

"No," I replied quietly before finally walking around her and following Benny behind Vincent's. I wasn't hurt. No, honestly I was more shocked than anything. I was kind of curious if I really needed make-up – I had never really gotten into that, what with hanging out with the guys all the time. It was something that my few girl friends had gotten into maybe a year ago, but I guess I didn't hang around them enough to notice or be affected by it. I guess that was another thing a girl would need a mom for. I touched my face absentmindedly, but Benny caught me.

"Andi, you don't need to learn to wear make-up," he said rolling his eyes angrily. I knew he wasn't angry with me. "That girl was a, a-"

"A bitch," I finished meekly for him, knowing he didn't have the heart to say it himself.

"Yes!" He exclaimed throwing his hands up. "Just because you don't feel the need to dress up and act all high and mighty doesn't mean you're less than her! I mean, why does she think she's so great? She's fake as a-"

"Benny, do you think I need makeup?" I asked quickly, interrupting his rant.

He looked at me blankly a moment, before rolling his eyes again but I could tell he was calming down.

"Sorry, stupid question. You're a boy," I said, slightly flustered. Trying to rephrase quickly what I really wanted to ask, I continued. "I guess what I want to know is, do you think I'm too much… Like a boy? I mean, maybe something is wrong with me. Maybe I'm supposed to want to do stuff like dress up, and wear makeup, and, and-"

"Andi," Benny interrupted me, "You're different from a lot of girls. That doesn't mean there's something wrong with you."

"I don't have a mom, like most girls," I replied, my voice almost a whisper. I stared down at my hands, which I now realized I was twisting and fumbling with nervously.

"C'mon, Andi. Look at me," he insisted.

I somehow managed to work my blue eyes up to his hazel pair, but I could feel the reluctance in my body - my chin was still pulled down, and I was forced to gaze at him from under my eyelashes.

"There is nothing wrong with you. You're a great person! You're fun to hang out with, you take a dare like nobody's business, and you play a crazy game of baseball. Me and the guys love you. Do you think we'd feel the same if you acted like that?" Benny asked, gesturing over to where we had run into the preppy girl. Still seeing that I wasn't convinced, he continued, "And just because those seem like guy things, doesn't mean they're only for guys. You do what you love to do. And Andi," he said, resting a firm hand on my shoulder, "Your mom would have been proud of you for that."

Benny's sentiments meant a lot to me. I could have hugged him right then and there, but I didn't want to make the moment sappier than it had already become. So instead of embracing him, I simply offered him half a smile, and said shyly, "Thank you, Benny."

"No problem, Andi. Just… Remember that, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, nodding my head firmly.

"Alright," continued Benny, clearing his throat. "Let's not keep the guys waiting."

Nodding again, I began walking around the building, Benny trailing behind me. I guess I could believe what he was saying. I mean, I had always felt fairly comfortable with myself. What was it about that run in with the girl that had made me feel so insecure? Getting lost in my thoughts, I barely caught what Benny had to say.

"Hey, and one more thing."

"Yeah?" I asked, turning to look at Benny.

"You don't need any makeup, Andi."

He looked at me earnestly, before walking past me, and behind the store. I could feel my face somewhat strained with surprise. I was grateful he had gone out of view, because despite the fact that I didn't know what his implications were, I could feel my cheeks heating up. Benny didn't think I needed makeup! Wait; was that a good thing or a bad thing? Finally shaking my head, I decided that this over analyzing was ridiculous.

Benny loves baseball. He likes his mom's spaghetti sauce, girls who wear those pretty sundresses, s'mores, and Squint's scary stories. Benny loves baseball. He likes carnivals, Kenny's Frank Sinatra impersonations, and going to the pool. He loves the guys, his family, and me, but most of all, he loves baseball.

Feeling more in control, I followed the way Benny had gone, behind Vincent's.

"Hey guys," I greeted, trying to act calm and collected, when what my insides were going through was quite a different story.

"Hey Andi," I heard some of them greet, before going back to their chatting and joking.

I couldn't help but smile a little. I was glad they didn't treat me any different. To me, that was the biggest sign of acceptance. It told me that they felt comfortable with me, and I was comfortable with them. Now that's what friendship is all about.

Seeing Benny fiddle with his baseball bat triggered my memory.

"Dammit, I forgot my bat," I mumbled, realizing after looking around that I had left it at my house.

"It's okay, Andi," Benny replied, overhearing my thoughts. "I'll go get it for you, kay?"

"Oh, Benny, you don't have to-"

"But I want to. Seriously Andi, it's no big deal," Benny insisted before adding with a smug smile, "I run faster anyway."

"Alright... Hey, thanks!" I called after him as he had already taken off. He turned briefly to wave to me and then was off again.

"Hey Andi," I heard Kenny's familiar voice, "What's that behind your ear?"

I knew what was coming, but I still turned my head out of habit. Before I knew it, he had reached up into my still undone hair, and pulled a penny out. Giving me the smile he used to draw in the girls, he placed the penny in my hand. I couldn't help but smile back. I loved Kenny – he was probably my best friend after Benny. I had known him just as long, and there was just something about him. He was cool, confident, and funny as hell. Whip-smart, too. He was quite popular with the ladies as well – maybe not as much as Benny, but still, his personality and smile attracted a fair amount of females.

"Kenny, I still don't know how you do half those magic tricks," I said in wonderment.

"Well, if you paid closer attention, you'd probably catch me more often," he replied back, giving me a wink.

Some might think Kenny was flirting with me. I guess you could think that of any girl he was around. Truth was, that was just the way he was. Like I said, cool and confident – a real lady's man.

"Hey, why don't you show us your juggling, Yeah-Yeah, man?" Kenny said. Leaning close to me, he said quietly, "He's been learning from Bertram."

"Ah, no way, man!" Yeah-Yeah shouted back. A light blush was beginning to spread across his cheeks.

"Cool," I said, appreciatively. There was no way I could ever do that. "Show us, Yeah-Yeah!"

"Yeah, be cool, man!"

"Show us!"

With all the guys begging for him to show us his juggling, he gave Bertram a pleading look. Bertram just smiled.

"C'mon, man, show 'em. I've taught you well!"

"Fine," Yeah-Yeah replied, heaving a big sigh. "What am I gonna juggle with though?"

"Oh, here," I replied, giving him the baseball Ben and I had just bought.

"I think I have an apple," Timmy said, searching his person.

"I think I have an apple, too," Tommy copied.

"Well, there you go," Bertram said, giving Yeah-Yeah a pat on the back. "Show 'em your stuff!"

"Eh, he's probably no good," complained Squints, the ever optimistic one of the group.

"Yeah, juggling – I mean, are you serious?" Ham pitched in.

"Shut up," Yeah-Yeah said back quickly, the blush getting brighter.

"Just go for it, Yeah-Yeah," I called to him.

Focusing in on his objects, Yeah-Yeah took a breath before beginning to pass the objects from one hand to the other. He wasn't perfect, but he was a lot better than I had expected him to be. Bertram must have been teaching him well. He was almost on his 7th loop in fact, when Squints came up behind him and yelled, "Fail!"

Flinging the apples and baseball in surprise, Yeah-Yeah practically tipped over. He glared at Squints who was almost falling over himself, he was laughing so hard, before giving him a shove. It didn't do anything, Squints just carried on.

"That was pretty good, Yeah-Yeah," Kenny told him, to give him some cheering up.

"Eh, that was nothin'," Ham called from where he was sitting.

Getting up from his crate, Ham moved up in front of us, with his bubblegum cigar in hand. He adjusted his hat, before saying to us all, "Listen, ready? Check this out." Sticking the gum in his mouth, he struggled to say something that not even I could understand.

"What?" We all asked, fairly in sync.

Again, he grumbled out something that we couldn't make out. If only he would take that damn bubblegum cigar out of his mouth.

"What?"

Finally fed up, he pulled the gum out of his mouth (which he should have done in the first place), and said, "I'm the Great Bambino."

A knowing "oh" resounded around our crowd. Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player ever. I know that in English classes, they tell you to stay away from "absolutes" or whatever, but that was just a cold, hard fact. He played in Major League Baseball for 22 seasons, and set a major record by hitting the most homers. His hitting technique was flawless. Need-less-to-say, we all worshipped the guy's memory. Anybody who didn't know him was crazy.

"Who's that?"

Feeling my eyes practically pop out of my head in shock, my head automatically jerked to the squeaky voice that dared to ask that question in the presence of so many baseball fanatics. And the second I locked eyes with his, I regretted it. It was the kid. The guy I had wanted so much to play for us. Benny had somehow snuck back into the picture, and there was the boy, tagging along. Again, he looked like his mom dressed him, with that purple shirt tucked into grey shorts, and that awful hat with the huge bill. He had a big, nasty black eye as well, that I couldn't help but wonder about. Ben must have invited him. I would have been ecstatic, had I not been so floored. How the hell did this kid not know who the Great Bambino was?

Apparently the guys were thinking the same thing, because they all immediately jumped up off the crates and boxes, and were staring at the kid, shocked faces and all. Crap.

"What?" Ham asked breathlessly, moving a step back.

"What, were you born in a barn?" Bertram shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, what planet are you from?" Yeah-Yeah asked incredulously.

Benny was already hanging his head in embarrassment, and I could feel my face lower into my hand. This was humiliating. The kid I wanted to play with us didn't even know who the Babe was.

Squints asked, "You never heard of the Sultan of Swat?"

"The Titan of Terror?" Kenny tried.

"The Colossus of Clout?"

"The Colossus of Clout?"

"The King of Crash, Man," said Benny, lightly swatting his hand against the kids arm.

"Oh," the kid replied, looking rather flustered, but the knowing sound in his voice made my ears perk up. I looked up from my hand. "Yeah, the Great Bambino. Of course. I thought you said the Great… Bambi," he finished lamely. At least he actually knew who Babe Ruth was. That was a load off my shoulders. None-the-less, it made for bad first impressions. I could already tell the guys were going on the defensive.

"You mean that wimpy deer?" Ham asked, and not so nicely I might add.

"Yeah. I guess," he replied, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry."

I caught Kenny and Ham exchanging a look, before shaking their heads. This was not going well.

Stepping in, Benny said quickly, "Anyway, Scott, that's Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Mike "Squints" Palledorous, Alan McClellan—we call him Yeah-Yeah—, Bertram Grover Weeks, Andrea Moore—we call her Andi—, Kenny DeNunez, and Hamilton Porter. We call him Ham. Guys, this is Scott Smalls."

After each of our names was called, we took turns spitting. It was kind of our thing; although I'm sure it pissed a lot of people off. It just made us look tough—or so we thought. At least I knew his name now. I tried the name in my mind: Scott Smalls. Yeah, I supposed it was fitting.

"Hi," Scott said, friendly enough. He made a fatal mistake when he waved instead of spitting though. The guys were put off, yet again. Squints finally stepped forward and spit for him. This was getting worse with each passing minute.

"Yeah, um," Benny said awkwardly, before carrying on in a more final tone, "Well, he's gonna play with us 'cause he makes nine guys. So, now we got a whole team for the Little League game." He looked at all of us, before quickly adding, "We're wasting time, let's go to the sandlot."

Immediately the arguments over the time of morning it was commenced. Bertram shoved Scott to the side before following Benny out, but that was about as much attention as he got. It was probably for the best. At this point I was convinced that it was better to have them ignoring him than talking to him. We were gonna need a serious turn around at the sandlot.

Adjusting my hat, I couldn't help but think about the "here goes nothing" line. Running up beside Scott, I asked straightforwardly, "What do you want us to call you?"

"Oh, uh," he began, looking flustered and frantic again, "I don't know. Anything's okay with me."

Man, this kid was making it too easy to pick on him. Resisting my original reply, I said, "Okay. Smalls it is."

He kinda half smiled at me, but didn't really try to make conversation the rest of the way there. That was alright though; I didn't know really what to talk about either. As we approached the sandlot, I ran up ahead to Benny and the guys, who appeared to be arguing. No surprise there.

"Ben," I said quickly, "He can have my spot for the game."

"Cool. Thanks, Andi," Benny said absentmindedly - obviously his thoughts were on other things.

"Ah, c'mon, Benny! Don't replace Andi with that kid!" Kenny started.

"Yeah! Why'd you bring him, Benny?"

"Well, it was my idea," I began, but the boys were already talking over me. This was going so bad. Finally, our chance to show that Smalls had some game, and the guys were already trying to oust him. Our chance to face the little leaguers would be over.

"Without Andi, we're only a team of eight. He makes nine, guys."

"No," Ham started, "With Andi we have a whole team. Andi can catch!"

"And throw," added a frustrated Bertram.

"C'mon Benny, man. He ain't game," Kenny complained. "You saw the way he threw."

"Well, I don't see any of you coming up with people to play!" I threw in hotly. "You all need to start practicing now if you wanna beat Phillips team!"

"Yeah, yeah, well can't we find some other kid? One that actually knows how to play?"

"Benny can fill up the empty positions until we find somebody," Timmy added. "That's what we've been doing already and it's worked fine for us."

"Right, and now I don't have to fill in any empty positions. C'mon guys, I need the practice!" Benny begged. It was true. With all the filling in of positions, Benny wasn't getting as much practice as he could get. He needed to focus on one thing and stick to it if he wanted to get really good, which I knew he did. This would be good for all of us.

"You're the best on the team," Ham complimented, "You don't need any practice!"

"You're the best, man," Bertram reassured.

"C'mon guys, we need to get serious now. We can't keep practicing without our final player," I said, breaking into the love fest for Benny.

"Andi, the kid is a L-7 weenie," Squints said, dragging out the last part, while making his fingers form L's, which he placed above his forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, Oscar Mayer even. Foot Long," Yeah-Yeah said, slowly increasing the volume of his voice so that Smalls could hear even standing several yards behind us. "Dodger Dog! A weenie!"

Benny and I watched as Smalls put his head down in embarrassment. The guys began laughing loudly, thinking they were so cool. I wanted to smack every one of 'em upside the head.

"What are you laughing at, Yeah-Yeah? You run like a duck," Benny shot back.

Yeah-Yeah was obviously caught off guard. "Kay, kay, but I'm- I'm-," he stumbled out, before Benny interrupted.

"Part of the game, right?"

"Mm… Yeah," Yeah-Yeah replied after thinking a moment.

"Now how come he don't get to be?" Benny asked. Man, he sure did have a way of turning tables. I could tell they were beginning to think, but overall, the guys were still unconvinced.

"'Cause he's a geek, man," Bertram emphasized.

"He can't catch."

"Man, base up you block heads," Benny finally said, losing all patience. While the guys moved to their spaces, Benny looked to Smalls and said, "Smalls, you take left center, okay?"

Benny began to walk towards first.

Looking around, Smalls replied, "Okay. Um, where exactly is that?"

Turning back around, with an exasperated face, Benny replied slowly, "It's over there, man."

Running out, Smalls picked a spot before shouting back, "Here?"

"That's left. I said left center," Benny corrected again.

"Okay, right," Smalls said quickly, jumping up and running further to the right, before asking, "Here?"

Benny gave him a nod, before turning back around and walking towards first.

Jogging up beside Benny, I said under my breath, "Thanks."

"I dunno. I not sure if this is gonna work, Andi," Benny mumbled under his breath.

"Please don't give up, yet," I couldn't help but beg. We were so close.

"Hey," he replied quietly, taking his spot, "I haven't quit yet." He gave me a hesitant smile, which I'm sure was meant to be reassuring, but wasn't really at all. I gave a small smile back, before moving to the sidelines. I hated not being in on the game, but this was necessary. So for now, I would sit back quietly and watch how it all played out. Hopefully it played out in my favor.

"Yeah-Yeah, get two," Benny shouted, before hitting the ball to him. Yeah-Yeah caught it quickly, before throwing it low to Bertram, who then passed it to Timmy. They were getting much faster; it was actually pretty impressive. I could tell Smalls was very impressed.

"Hey Smalls," Benny called out, "Throw it to second."

I could just hear a faint, "okay." Benny hit the ball hard, and it flew up high and it flew long. It looked like Smalls just might have it. He was looking too far back, when the ball collided with him, and he fell onto his back with a big shout. Man, this kid was humiliation prone.

"I told you, Benny. I told you," I could hear Ham telling Benny.

"C'mon Benny, why'd you do that?" Kenny shouted reproachfully.

While Smalls was running to get the ball from where it landed by the fence, Squints continued with more taunts. It didn't help when instead of throwing the ball, Smalls ran it up to Kenny. He actually took the ball in hand… And ran it over to Kenny… And handed it to him. This kid was kinda unbelievable. Unfortunately, not in a good way either.

Kenny turned to us with a look that said he was thinking the same thing I was. Benny looked behind him at Ham, and then to me before running all the way out to where Smalls was. I couldn't hear from where I was, but it didn't look good. Smalls had removed his hat. Maybe this was a small detail to me, but in baseball speak, that was calling it quits.

He started to move around Benny, when Ben started up conversation again. Benny began lifting his arm slowly, as if he were about to throw something, and I could only assume that he was trying to teach Smalls something. A wave of relief spread over me. Benny wasn't quitting on him. He was even trying to help him out. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I was touched. This was the Benny that I knew and loved.

Soon, Benny was running back over to first. I gave him a quick smile, which he returned. I couldn't express how grateful I was then, but I most certainly would later.

"'Bout time, Benny," I heard Squints shout, "My clothes are going out of style!"

"They already are, Squints," Tommy shouted back.

Not being able to help myself, I added quickly, "Yeah, by about ten years!"

"Shut up!"

After Ham reprimanded Benny once more, whom Benny once again ignored, he shouted, "Smalls, throw it to second."

I then saw Benny spit on the ball. This was a pretty serious thing – I had only see Benny do this a few other times, and it was always in times when he needed some major luck. In this case, Smalls was gonna need some major luck. Not wasting a second longer, Benny hit the ball. We all watched in horror as Smalls just held up his glove, closed his eyes and cringed.

By some miracle, or maybe by some spit-on-the-ball luck, it landed perfectly in Smalls outstretched hand. The effect on all of us was immediate.

"He caught it!" I practically squealed. It was kind of embarrassing, actually. Luckily, the guys were too busy shouting out their own praise to pay attention to me. The excitement only increased when he threw the ball in a perfect arch to Bertram.

Looking on approvingly, Bertram said, "Okay. Let's play some ball!"

I couldn't help but grin when I overheard Kenny saying, "I knew it… The whole time."

I gave Smalls a smile, but he didn't see. He was looking at Benny. Grinning hugely, he stuck his arm up in the air and gave Ben a thumbs up. Benny returned the gesture, smiling pretty big himself. Things were finally looking up.

We finally began heading home at sunset. The day had definitely started out rough, but it had ended better than I could have ever hoped for. Smalls still had a lot to learn, but I had faith that he could catch up quickly - especially now that the guys were all on his side.

"I'll show you some more tomorrow," Ham was telling Smalls, before heading his own way.

"Okay," Smalls agreed enthusiastically.

"You did good," Ham complimented, which was a shocker for I think both me and Benny.

"See you tomorrow, man," Benny said to Ham.

Ham waved to us before turning around and heading off. We were just about to Small's place now, and he also began to slip from our dwindling group.

"So, 8 o'clock, Benny?" Smalls asked, cheerily.

"Yeah, we'll see you later, Smalls," Benny replied, and we began walking across the street, towards Benny house.

I started waving, as I called out, "See ya, Smalls!"

"Bye!" Smalls, shouted back before turning around and walking towards his own pink house.

Sighing, I began, "That went reall-"

"Benny, wait!" We heard Smalls call from across the street, "Your glove!"

Turning, I saw him holding up a glove. Benny must have lent it to him; it certainly wasn't that crappy, flimsy one he had brought to the sandlot the first time.

"Keep it, man," Benny called back, waving his hand nonchalantly.

It took him a second to comprehend what Benny was saying, but Smalls eventually called back an excited, "Thanks!"

We began to walk towards Benny's house again, until I heard him mumble something to himself. Benny turned quickly on his heel and ran back over to Smalls, saying, "Oh yeah, hey Smalls?"

I watched them talk a bit. Benny was giving Smalls the run down. This really was going so much better than I ever thought it would. The guys had really taken to him. We could take down Phillips, no problem. It was all getting so close; it was hard to keep my excitement contained. That far away dream was becoming a reality.

Looking off beyond the houses, I noticed the sun had already gone down behind the mountains and hills that encased Los Angeles. They almost looked blue. It was kinda pretty against the orange glow the last light of the sun was casting. The crickets were going wild, but other than that it was pretty quiet. It was nice.

Feeling a hand gently placed on the small of my back, I turned to see Benny had come back. I was grateful that he hadn't tried to surprise poke me or anything. My rage would have been pretty uncontrollable.

"Hey, mister," I said, smiling.

"So, you wanna sneak out with me tonight?" He always jumped right to the point.

"Hm," I pretended to consider, "Sneak out with Benny Rodriguez? It is tempting."

I gave him an appraising look, and he wiggled his thick eyebrows at me. I broke out laughing.

Easing up on the laughter, I answered, "Seriously, though. I was thinking of spending some time with my family. I haven't spent very much time with them this week."

Thinking about it more actually made me feel a little guilty. I was gone early in the morning, and didn't get back until after sundown. I sometimes saw my brothers briefly in the morning, and I would usually run into them when I got home, and started preparing leftovers, but that was it. I hardly ever saw my dad anymore. I needed to spend more time with them all.

"I didn't get to hang with you enough today, though," Benny pointed out. "Too busy training Smalls. Oh, and speaking of which, you're welcome."

"Oh my gosh, that's right!" I practically shouted. I had almost forgot. Throwing my arms around him, I said a little quieter, "Thank you so much, Benny!"

He returned the hug, and replied nonchalantly, "It was no problem. I think it'll actually be a good thing."

I couldn't help but smile up at him. I could tell he was beginning to develop a soft spot for Smalls.

"Hey," Benny began, breaking up the quiet, "Maybe you can change your summer goal back to getting me out?"

I couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "Maybe I will."

"Well, you aren't going to get me out without a ton of practice," Benny said, emphasizing the "ton" part. I glared slightly. I could tell where he was going with this. He continued exactly how I thought he was going to. "So, sneak out with me, and practice."

"No."

"Andi, you know you want to."

"Benny, I do want to!" I said earnestly, giving up the poker face too easily. "It's just, I feel bad about not hanging out with my brothers and dad in a while. Got to spread out the quality time, you know?"

"Well, I am sneaking out," Benny said, pointing a thumb at himself. "So, you can meet me at the sandlot when you're ready. I'll just be practicing my swing."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, although I couldn't help but smile. "Benny, I'm not coming."

"You will, Andi. You will," he said. He gave me an almost smug smile, before turning around and walking away. He was so sure of himself – and of me – it was maddening sometimes.

Letting myself in through the front door, I derailed from my usual actions by calling out for my brothers.

"In here!" I heard Todd call from the kitchen. Moving to stand in the entrance of it, I saw that he and Jimmy were sitting at the table, Todd with a cup of coffee and Jimmy with a bowl of something that smelled delicious. I took notice of the fact that they had obviously been chatting before I arrived. I was glad they were finally getting along again. It still wasn't perfect, but at least they had gotten over their most recent spat.

"Any more of what you guys are having?" I asked, feeling my stomach rumble.

"Um," Todd thought a moment, and I could tell he was tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was a bit disheveled. "There should be more coffee in the pot. Jimmy, what are you eating?"

"It's just some leftovers from the fridge. I think chicken and green beans?" Jimmy replied with a full mouth, looking at his food questionably for the first time.

"Sounds good enough for me," I said, working my way over to the fridge. "Has anyone seen dad today?"

Being greeted with silence only, I turned around to see if either was going to answer. They were exchanging looks with one another, and immediately I was suspicious that they were hiding something from me.

"What?" I asked, worry clear in my voice.

"Nothing, nothing," Jimmy recovered quickly, waving his hand at me. "Dad actually went out today."

"Really?" I couldn't help but ask in disbelief. Dad didn't usually go out.

"Yeah, he went to that little diner in town for, "inspiration,"" Jimmy said, trying to impersonate some fortune teller with the way he said his "inspiration."

"He definitely found it," I heard Todd mumble.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I shot back, getting irritated now. They still weren't telling.

"Andi," Todd chided, "It's nothing, okay? Relax."

"You're one to tell me to relax."

"Yeah, you walk around like you got a stick up your butt," Jimmy added quickly.

"Ah, stop giving me hell," Todd chastised, "Someone has to keep things in line around here."

"Look," Jimmy said, "All I'm trying to say is that things wouldn't fall apart if you were to just relax once in a while. Smell the roses, if you will."

"When was the last time you slept a full eight hours, Todd?" I added, beginning to prepare my food.

"I could ask the same for you," Todd said, smiling over his coffee cup. "Don't act like we don't know you're sneaking out all the time with Benny."

I spun around quickly.

"What?"

Jimmy started laughing, before getting out, "She honestly doesn't think we know!"

"Well, you guys don't know!" I stammered out, attempting to make a recovery.

"Relax, Andi. We're not gonna tell dad, or nothin'," Jimmy reassured me. "Well, at least I'm not. I still remember being young and having friends." He gave a meaningful look to Todd.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," Todd said, rolling his eyes. "I don't need to take this kind of abuse from the two of you." Even as he said it though, he was smiling. Carrying his cup to the sink, he filled it with water, and then he came over to me, kissed me on the head, and said, "'Night, sis."

"'Night, Todd!" I called back, glad that the subject was off of me.

Staring down at his now empty bowl, Jimmy followed in Todd's steps, washing his bowl out, and giving me a kiss goodnight, before retiring upstairs for the night. I guess I forgot that we didn't really have "quality" time anymore. Dad was always huddled upstairs, while the boys were out working. Things were hard, no doubt about that, but I could hardly believe that we didn't even have time to play baseball as a family anymore.

I didn't want to think about that anymore. Focusing in on my food, I finished cooking it up quickly, before digging in. It was good - or maybe I was just hungry? Either way, my plate was clear in a matter of minutes. After cleaning up the kitchen, I bounded upstairs as quietly as possible. It was strange to see that the light in my father's room was off. Usually he was up working. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I was ready for sleep.

I pulled my door closed behind me, and began getting ready for bed. I pulled my hair down from its pony tail, and let it fall around my face. I didn't bother looking in a mirror – it would be fine. Removing my clothes, I switched them out for a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms. Exhausted, I crawled under my covers and laid my head down, prepared for some rest.

Despite how tired I was, I couldn't sleep. After a while of watching the moonlight dance across my room, I finally gave in. With a huge grin on my face, I threw the covers off, and began to search the floor for my jeans. Benny knew me far too well.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Oh my gosh! I'm on a roll, you guys! I actually wrote this all today. Not sure how, but I'm quite satisfied that I have a new chapter to show only a week after my last update! I do think my one chapter a year curse is broken.**

Chapter 9

The next day came pretty early, especially since Benny and I had been out all night again, practicing and playing ball. I knew I'd be exhausted and I hated that feeling, but I could never say no to a night of sneaking out with Benny. So, sucking it up, I got dressed, grabbed my bat, and headed out to meet Ben. Before leaving the house though, I had received a call from Taylor. It was nice to hear from her – I hadn't seen her since school got out – and I agreed I would come see her after I was done at the sandlot.

The day seemed like it was going to be a nice one – the sun was out, and it was warm, but not too unbearably hot, like some of the days we got. The guys were already setting up. Ham was first up to bat, with Benny taking Ham's usual position. I had given Smalls my position again, out at left center, but it wasn't going to be for the whole game this time. After Ham was done, Smalls and I agreed we'd switch.

I was excited to get out there and play some ball. I wasn't used to not playing, and if I were being honest, I didn't like the feeling. I wouldn't tell Smalls that though – he needed to get as much practice as possible. If it meant us winning our game against Phillips, I would deal.

I watched from the sidelines as Ham began swinging his bat in practice, while building himself up for the pitch.

"Hamilton "The Babe" Porter," he bragged loudly, "Long Ball" Porter… Come on, DeNunez."

I don't think any of us could help it – we all began laughing. Ham comparing himself to The Babe? Please. None of us were that good. Kenny was practically falling all over himself with laughter.

Snorting, Benny joked from behind Ham, "Yeah, okay. Yeah, I see it."

Finally Kenny managed to pull himself together. Lowering his cap, he pulled back, and then released the ball. It was a fast one, too – Ham swung just a moment too late.

Standing up and looking towards the outfield, Benny shouted, "Whoa!"

Ham fell for the prank for a moment, searching for the ball that he didn't hit, before quickly catching on.

"You call that pitching?" Ham shouted, angrily smacking his bat into the ground. "This is baseball, not tennis! Give me something I can hit!"

"Alright, Ham," Kenny conceded, before coming back with, "This is my Heater – I _dare_ you to hit it!"

While Kenny was winding up, Ham merely narrowed his eyes and mumbled, "You'll be sorry."

Squints taunted, "Give him a basketball, maybe he'd hit that!"

Kenny threw the ball – low, hard, and fast – and somehow Ham managed to smack it. There was a loud noise when the ball made impact with the bat, and then we all watched as the ball flew out towards Smalls. I watched in horror as Smalls chased the ball… And it flew right into Mr. Mertle's backyard. We weren't getting that ball back, that was for sure. Now I didn't get to play.

"Ah, man!" I couldn't help but shout, my face marred by a grimace. "Why'd you do that?"

Ignoring me completely, Ham shouted proudly before beginning to circle the bases, "Yeah! That's how you do it!"

"Ham, you idiot!" Benny shouted angrily, "Now we can't play no more!"

At that point, all the boys began throwing their gloves at Ham. He just laughed, blocked the incoming objects, and continued running. The air was filled with insults of, "Idiot!" When that wasn't good enough, the boys began chasing after him, and hitting his arms and back. None of it fazed Ham in the least. He was too proud of the home run he had hit.

"Ham," I greeted in a sickeningly sweet voice as he approached home. My tone could only insinuate that I wasn't bringing good news.

"What?" Ham asked hesitantly, pulling as far back from me as possible.

"You're buying the next ball," I said flatly, my fake smile falling. Ham's smile fell as well.

"I don't have 98 cents!" He shouted.

"Well then, find it!" I shouted back. We began glaring at each other. I was ruining his moment of glory, and he had ruined my day by ending the game before I could even play.

We were both pulled from our angry stares when Squints shouted out a long, "Nooo!"

Looking where Squints was, with sheer terror eyes, we all saw that Smalls was trying to climb the fence. No doubt he was trying to get the ball back, but he was basically feeding himself to the Beast. Shouts broke out across the boys, and before I knew it, we were all racing across the field towards Smalls.

Turning around at all the noise, Smalls shouted back to us unknowingly, "Hey guys, I'll get it!" Seeing the group of us running towards him though, his eyes seemed to widen in fear a bit, as he asked, "What are you doing?"

At that moment, we had reached him. Crowding around him, Benny and a few of the other boys began to drag him from the fence, amongst screams of, "You're gonna get yourself killed!" and "I gotta get the ball!" Setting Smalls down, we all seemed to exhale in relief. That had been far too close for comfort. What was Smalls thinking?

"Holy crap, you coulda been killed!" Squints cried, panting heavily.

"Yeah, yeah, truly. What're you doing?"

"Well, you guys were all leaving, so I just thought I'd hop the fenc-" Smalls said frantically, before being interrupted by Squints.

"If you were thinking, you wouldn't have thought that."

"You can't go back there, Smalls," Benny said, flatly.

"Then, how do we get the ball back?"

"We don't," Timmy answered.

"We don't."

"It's history."

"It's history."

"Kiss it goodbye."

"Kiss it-"

"Shut up, Tommy."

"It's gone, Smalls," I said simply, shrugging my shoulders.

"Games over, man. We'll just get another ball tomorrow-" I couldn't help but give Ham a dirty look, to which he stuck out his tongue at me –"We'll never see it again."

Smalls looked at us, a million questions passing through his little eyes. It had become obvious at this point that he had no idea what the Beast was. Not that we did either, but at least we knew about it. Smalls was clueless.

"Why not?" Smalls finally asked, somewhat quiet.

Exchanging looks amongst ourselves, we all answered in union, "The Beast."

"What's that?"

We exchanged looks again. Who was going to be the one to tell him? Biting his lip in worry, Benny finally stepped forward.

"Smalls, listen to me," he replied urgently, "Go to that fence, real slow, and be quiet."

Smalls eyes widened in fear. He tried to stutter out some excuse, but Benny wasn't having any of that. After much insisting, Smalls began to move towards the fence, extreme caution in each one of his steps. Sucking in my breath, I unconsciously took a step back. I still remembered my first encounter with the Beast… I shuddered every time I thought about it.

Peeking through the fence, Smalls stayed there for a few moments. We all heard the huge growl the Beast let out, and I couldn't help but jump back further. Smalls stumbled back as soon as it let out that awful noise.

"Something got the ball," he stuttered out in shock, "W-what was that thing?"

For what felt like the millionth time that day, we all looked at one another.

"Camp out!"

Walking home with Benny that day was fairly quiet. I guess I was busy thinking about how I was going to fit in a visit with Taylor and a sleepover in the tree house all into the same day. Feeling a nudge to my side, I looked at Benny, who gave me one of his perfect smiles.

"Feelin' okay?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah. Fine," I replied, dismissing his question with a wave of my hand.

"I'm sorry you didn't get to play today," Benny said, looking away.

"Hey, that's alright," I reassured him. I didn't want him to feel guilty or anything. "It was Ham's fault anyways."

Benny gave me another smile.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," I joked, nudging his side this time.

"Alright, alright," Benny said, chuckling a little. "So, do you wanna walk to the tree house together?"

"Um, actually, I was just thinking about that," I replied hesitantly, scratching the back of my neck. "I think I'm gonna be late," I admitted.

"What?" Benny complained, pretending to be insulted.

"Well, Taylor wants to hang out for a while. I'll be there, but probably not at 9 o' clock. So, leave without me, okay?"

"Psh," Benny joked, rolling his eyes, "Taylor is forgetting that you're mine."

"Oh, please! I can hang out with whoever I want!" I said indignantly.

"As long as I still get you most of the summer," Benny said, putting an arm around my neck, and pulling me into a hug. "I'd hate to lose my best friend and star catcher."

"You got a new star catcher, now!" I replied proudly into his chest, thinking of Smalls and how he was quickly getting better and better.

"Well, you were there first," Benny replied. "I am really starting to like Smalls though. He's a good guy."

Pulling back, so that I could give him a smile, I told Benny honestly, "Good! I'm really glad."

Benny gave me a matching smile. "So, I guess you gotta go now?"

"Yeah," I conceded reluctantly, even though I was excited to see Taylor. "I suppose I do."

"I'll see you later tonight then," Benny said, finally pulling away and beginning to walk up his driveway.

"Bye!"

"Hey, Andi!" Taylor called to me from her front door as I walked up.

"Hey, Taylor," I smiled and patted her back as she pulled me into a tight embrace. "How have you been?"

"I have been wonderful," Taylor replied, pulling back to smile at me. "You look really good, Andi. You're all tanned up and pretty!"

"Bull," I replied, rolling my eyes before laughing. "You're the pretty one, here."

It was true. I had just worn my grubbies over to her house – my hair was down, and a mess, my hands were dry and calloused, and I may have been tan, but my cheeks and shoulders were also a little pink from getting sunburned.

Taylor looked as light as a summer breeze, as I think the saying went. Her long, blonde curls were tired back in a low ponytail, and she was wearing a soft, yellow dress which stopped right at her dainty knees. Her neck was adorned with a string of pearls – she was quite the image. Once again, I was left wondering how in the world the two of us had ever become friends.

"So, come in," she said excitedly. "We have so much to talk about!"

After much questioning on how the "progress" with Benny was going – which there wasn't any – Taylor switched to asking me about the fair. Who I was going with, what I was going to wear, and a bunch of other things that I had no answers to. Moving to her closet, Taylor began looking for potential outfits she could put me in. I cringed the whole time, watching her pull out girly dress after girly dress. The guys would die of shock if they ever saw me in any of those.

"So, you're going to the tree house with the guys later?" Taylor asked me, while holding up a pretty floral dress, and examining it.

"Yeah, that's the plan. I think the guys just wanna scare Smalls," I answered nonchalantly from where I remained seated on her plush bed.

"Smalls?" Taylor asked, looking at me curiously.

"Right, I guess you haven't heard," I began. "He's the new kid – just moved to town like a month ago. Anyway, Benny's teaching him to play ball. You know what that means?"

"No," Taylor answered honestly, shrugging her petite shoulders.

"We have a full team! Or at least, we have nine guys now, which means we can go up against Phillips! You have no idea how long I've waited to see the look on his face when we cream him!" I told her, giddy with excitement.

She just rolled her eyes at me.

"Andi, Tyler's actually not half bad, if you take the time to get to know him. I mean, how much do you actually know about the guy, other than the fact that you don't like him and he doesn't like you?"

"Well," I stampered out, incredulous. "I know enough!"

"I hear Phillips dad is really harsh," she carried on somberly. "And like, really into baseball. I think he played it when he was young, and I hear he was good."

"So… What's this got to do with our game against Phillips?" I asked, still not convinced, although I was surprised by these new revelations.

"Andi, think about it," Taylor sighed, plopping down next to me on the bed. "Phillips is obsessed with winning. Why? Because of his dad. He doesn't want to let him down. Now how would it be if he had to tell his dad that he lost a game to a girl?"

Seeing my slight glare, she corrected herself, saying, "Not that girls can't play! It's just… Tyler thinks that, and I'm sure his dad does. Honestly, he's probably terrified of losing to you. Just… I don't know, try to see things from his perspective, Andi."

I sighed angrily. I didn't want to hear Tyler's story. I just wanted to hate him, plain and simple. Taylor was making it very hard to do that.

"What?" Taylor asked, chuckling a little.

"You're making me feel guilty," I replied honestly.

"Well, good," She said, before standing up again. "It's about time you started seeing things from both sides."

Spending time with Taylor had been a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, I loved spending time with her. On the other hand, I didn't need to know all that stuff about Tyler. Phillips, I thought to myself, shaking my head. I hadn't ever known any of that stuff about him, like his dad being tough on him, and all. I wondered where his mom was. Scratch that, I wondered if any of that was even true.

I decided it probably was. Taylor wouldn't have lied to me. That just made things more difficult though – how do you hate a person once you know their story? Deciding I wouldn't think about it anymore tonight, or anymore at all, I hiked my pillow and sleeping bag further up into my arms and continued my trek to the tree house.

Benny, Kenny, and I had built the tree house about a year after I met them. It was just a simple, little one room thing – the typical tree fort. As we met more and more of the guys though, we slowly added more on. Now, it was more of a fortress, with its few rooms, several lookouts, rope, and swing. It was really kind of amazing what a bunch of kids could do with some nails, a hammer, and some old, barn wood.

We usually had camp outs there a few times during the summer. Squints would tell scary stories while we all sat around, listening intently while eating the s'mores Ham had made us. It was fun, and a required part of the summer for us. Needless to say, I was looking forward to it.

As I approached the tree house in the dark – it was about 10 o' clock now – I could see a little dim light coming out of the windows of the main room. That was the one big enough to hold us all. Working my way up the set of stairs we had built, I paused when I heard Squints voice.

"Back to a place called Mertle's Acres… It all started, mm," I could hear Squints pause, "About twenty years ago, when thieves kept stealing junk from Mertle's Acres junkyard."

I knew right then that he was re-telling the story of how the Beast had come to be. Usually I loved scary stories. I would sit alert, reveling in every detail of gore, screams, and suspense that came with Squints stories. Not this one, though. The story of the Beast hit too close to home, especially since I was the one standing closest to the fence every day.

I didn't want to walk in and sit down, only to let the guys see how terrified I was. I also couldn't bring myself to leave though, so I sat down right there on the steps, and listened begrudgingly as Squints told the awful tale.

"He fed the dog whole sides of beef!" I heard Squints continue. I couldn't help but cringe. How could a puppy eat half a cow? I supposed it made sense, with this being the Beast we were talking about and all. I struggled to keep my hands away from my ears.

"And so, in a few weeks, the pup grew into the Beast, and he grew big, and he grew _mean_! So that he could protect the junkyard with only one thing on his mind: to kill everyone that broke in! And he did—And he liked it… A lot!"

At this point I was struggling to listen. I looked out at the sandlot, and considered going out there and finding a rock to toss around or something. The image of the Beast hanging out on the other side of the fence though psyched me out too much. There was no way I could move from this spot, so I just lowered my head, and rested it in my lap. Hopefully the story would be over soon.

"They never found a single body. Not one. Some people say they all got away. But we all know what really happened! The Beast ate them – he ate them bone and all."

My overactive imagination was now making me hear the awful crunching of bone. I closed my eyes tighter.

"My grandpa, Squidman Palledorous, was police chief back then. He ordered Mr. Mertle to turn his backyard into a fortress and chain up the Beast and put him under the house. That way he couldn't get out to eat children and stuff. That's where he's been for over twenty years, and that's where he'll be for the rest of his life. Because Mr. Mertle asked the cops how long he had to keep the Beast chained up like a slave, they said until forever._ Forever. Forever. Forever_."

I finally managed to lift my head, as Squints began to repeat himself, thanking goodness that the worst was over. I decided to wait just a few more minutes before I actually went up. I wanted the cold sweat that had broken out across my forehead to dry. I didn't need the boys calling me a wuss, even though they were all just as scared as me.

Of course, maybe I was more scared. I mean, I was the one who practically stood next to it every day. The first time I encountered the Beast, our ball had gone flying and landing right along the fence line. I had run over to grab it, but was stopped by all the growling. Nothing the guys said could have convinced me to go and get that ball. Benny finally had to swoop in and grab it for me.

I heard Smalls voice then. He sounded a little peeved actually, which was something I hadn't yet seen from him. I supposed I would listen in again.

"You guys are just making this up to scare me!" I heard Smalls accuse.

"Oh yeah?" Squints fired back, probably insulted that he was being questioned. "Stick your head out that window and look down."

Hearing Smalls scream a moment later, I couldn't help but jump and race further up the steps. Breathing heavily, I stood there for a moment, trying to calm down. I was freaking myself out too much, but I certainly didn't want to remain outside anymore. Slowly, I managed to work my way to the door.

"Hey guys," I heard my quiet voice say shakily.

Immediately, everyone in the room jumped.

"Andi!" Kenny said as quietly as possible. "You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I said, clutching my own heart.

"Yeah, yeah, you came at the worst time!" Yeah-Yeah cried, indignantly.

"Sorry, sorry. I-" I paused for a moment, thinking of what I should say. I didn't want to tell them that I was sitting outside the whole time, having a mental freak out.

"Come sit down, Andi," Benny said from the corner, finally exhaling in the process. He patted the ground next to him.

Working my way through the crowd of boys was not an easy task, but I finally got to the slim bit of empty space next to Benny. I rolled out my sleeping bag – it overlapped Benny and Small's in the process – and fluffed my pillow, before sitting down.

"Wanna s'more, Andi?" Ham asked, sticking one towards me.

"Sure," I whispered back, taking it from him. "Thanks."

He gave me a nod, and then went back to eating his own. I never turned down a s'more, but now that it was in my hand, I realized how not hungry I felt. I decided I just needed to let my stomach settle, and then it would be alright to eat.

"You look kind of green," Smalls said, observing my face with slight concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay, Smalls," I replied quickly. "It, uh… Was just a long run from my friend's house."

"How'd that go, by the way?" Benny asked, jumping in.

"Good," I replied simply, nodding my head. The room had broken out in conversation, the atmosphere finally relaxing. I was relieved. I didn't like that tense feeling in the pit of my stomach. Feeling myself start to relax, I finally took a bite out of the s'more. Realizing then that I actually was hungry, I ate the whole thing quickly, before asking for another, and another, and another.

"Andi," Benny said, shaking his head, "You're eating all the s'mores. Let Smalls have some more – it's his first time trying them."

"_What_?" I asked in complete disbelief, turning to face Scott.

"Uh, yeah," he said, giving me a nervous smile.

"How have you never had these before? The Babe is one thing, but s'mores?"

"I know about The Babe," Scott said quickly, before continuing. "I guess I don't really get invited to a lot of camp outs."

"Well, we can't allow this. Have another," I said, handing him the one in my hands.

He took it hesitantly, before saying, "Thank you."

I gave him a quick smile, before beginning to wipe my sticky fingers on my little, blue jacket. It was a light, summer jacket, and I was only wearing a yellow tank underneath, so I cuddled into my sleeping bag. I listened intently as the guys talked about girls, cars, and most of all, baseball. It was nice.

Slowly, one by one, they all began crawling into their sleeping bags, and falling asleep. I was dosing off a bit myself, but I wanted to stay up a bit longer, so I forced my eyes to stay open. Finally, everyone was asleep. Seeing that Squints had left his flashlight on, I reluctantly got out of my warm sleeping bag, and tiptoed over to it.

Not trusting that I wouldn't step on everyone's toes on the way back, I brought the light back with me. Making sure I was all set up, I finally switched the flashlight off, and the room was engulfed in darkness. At least until my eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight, that is.

"Hey," I heard the quiet voice beside me whisper.

Rolling over, I looked to where Benny's face should have been. I could just make out the details of his handsome face.

"Hey," I whispered back. "What's up?"

"I dunno, I guess I just saw that you were still awake."

I snorted, before I could stop myself. Looking around, I didn't notice that any of the guys had stirred, so I turned back to Ben.

"You're always the last to go to sleep."

I could see him grin hugely. "Always."

As my eyes adjusted more and more to the darkness, I could see his face clearer and clearer. Not caring, I let my eyes graze over his face, taking in the details as the light revealed them. He wasn't wearing a hat, so I could clearly make out his dark, tousled hair. It was certainly more messy than usual. His face was fairly angular, but still held a bit of that childish softness. I worked my eyes to his, which were catching a bit of the light coming from outside, making them glimmer more green than orange. I guess that was kind of the cool thing about hazel eyes – they went from color to color. None-the-less, they looked lovely right then. Like a pool of dark green grass, with little stars caught in it, and hints of orange.

I internally smacked myself. Since when was I a poet?

"Hey, this is kinda a stupid thought," Benny finally said, quietly chuckling under his breath, "But do you remember when you dared me to kiss you?"

My stomach immediately went back to that tight, pinched feeling, as if it were twisting into little knots. I had no idea where Benny was going with this, and that scared me. I hated not knowing. After a moment, I decided to play it off coolly – if I acted nonchalant about it, he'd never suspect a thing.

I laughed quietly. "Yeah, I remember. We were like… nine years old, right?"

"I thought we were ten," Benny said, thinking.

"No, it was definitely nine," I said, without thinking. I bit my lip, cringing at what I had just let escape my mouth. So much for playing it cool, but this was something I would most certainly remember.

"Well, anyway," Benny said, waving a hand. "You ran away when I tried."

I let out a genuine giggle that time. I got so nervous, I couldn't help it. As soon as I saw his full lips coming my way, I had turned on my heel, and ran for home as fast as I could.

Benny laughed, too. "I was honestly going to kiss you," he admitted, still quiet.

"No way!" I said back, quickly, trying to keep my voice down. "You told me you were just joking!"

"Yeah, I only said that 'cause my ego was hurt. I couldn't believe you actually ran – I figured later that I smelled or something," he continued, smiling.

"You smelled fine to me," I admitted. "Good, actually. Honestly, I just got nervous. That's why I ran."

"That's okay," Benny said, shrugging before changing the subject. "Like I said, funny thing to bring up."

"Eh, I didn't mind. You refreshed my memory," I replied, smiling.

"Good," Benny whispered, grinning at me in the dark. He began to sink down into his sleeping bag, and I did the same. I was exhausted – mentally and physically. It might make it easier to fall asleep though, amongst all the guys snoring. I scooted closer to Benny – his body always radiated lots of heat. Guys were always warm; that was something I had learned from being surrounded by them all day long.

"'Night, Andi," I heard Benny say beside me, before breaking out into a yawn.

"'Night, Ben," I answered quietly, before closing my eyes and drifting off into darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's Note: You guys, you guys, YOU GUYS! I was observing my fanfic the other day, and with all of the recent changes to the site, I was able to see that I have a total of… *drum roll* 47 reviews, 66 follows, and 58 favorites. You guys, I am beyond flattered! Thank you all SO much! That is just too cool!_

_Aside from that, it took me longer to write this chapter because my life has been a little hectic lately. Good hectic, but still hectic! My momentum might slow down a bit, because of school, but I still hope to publish a chapter here and there. We will see!_

_One last comment before we move on to Chapter 10 – Guest Reviewers! I unfortunately can't respond to you all personally, but I want to let you all know that I appreciate the thoughtful reviews! And yes, my last chapter had hints of "Mary's Song" in it. ;) Good eyes, readers, good eyes. (I do really like drawing on Taylor Swift's music for this story though – it just seems to fit.)_

_Onto the chapter!_

Chapter 10

Several weeks went by without a hitch, and June was almost over. The days were getting longer, and hotter, and I was spending more time at the sandlot with the guys. We were pretty much there seven days a week, twelve hours a day - except for those occasions when the dry, valley heat became too much to handle. Looking at the skies, with not a cloud in sight, and feeling little to no breeze on my face, I could already tell that this was going to be another one of those days.

It was only 7:45 in the morning, and the heat had already risen to well above 80 degrees. I was silently sitting in the shade of our make-shift Dugout – the only escape from the sun - while tossing a good sized pebble up and down. Feeling a light sheen of sweat on my forehead, I dropped the pebble, and swiped it away. The heat was making me tired and frustrated, and I was irritated that no one else had shown up yet. Granted, I was early, but usually there was at least one other person here.

Benny had to give his mom a hand that morning - something about the sink, I think - and had told me to go on ahead. Squints and Yeah-Yeah were getting the ball. Bertram was going to get some soda and water together. Where was everyone else, though?

I dried the sweat on my forehead once more, before readjusting my baseball hat. It was making my hair feel sticky and sweaty, but at least it would keep the sun out of my eyes when we started the game up. Well, if we started the game up – I was beginning to have serious doubts, what with the crazy heat wave and all.

"Hi, Andi!"

I perked up a bit at the sound of the cheerful voice, and looked in the direction it was coming from. Sure enough, Smalls was waving his arm at me happily, while making his way across the Sandlot. I should have guessed – no one else could sound quite as joyful in this weather.

"Hey, Smalls," I spat out, my voice sounding hoarse. My throat had gone very, very dry. I tried to work up some saliva before continuing. "No one else has shown up yet, but I don't think there's gonna be a game today."

"Aw, really?" He asked, his voice filled with sincere dismay. "That's too bad."

"It's too hot to play anyways," I replied, shrugging. "We're probably just waiting for the guys to get here, so that they can all agree to go home."

Smalls huffed in agreement, before moving slowly to the covered seats and plopping down. He removed his hat, and ran a hand through his disheveled, sweaty hair, still thinking quietly to himself. Who knew what went through that kid's mind. He was unlike any other. "So, what's your story, Smalls?" I inquired, realizing that I didn't actually know much about the inquisitive Scott Smalls. It was obvious I had interrupted his thoughts – his egg shaped face shot up, clearly surprised.

"Um," he started shyly, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know. There's not much to tell really. I used to live further south… Like around San Diego?"

"Oh yeah. I know the place."

"Yeah, well, that's where we lived. Then I moved here with Bill and my mom, because Bill got a newer, better job."

"Smalls," I began, "Why do you always call your dad "Bill"?"

"Oh," said Smalls, his eyes widening in surprise. "He's not my dad. He's my step dad. My real dad died when I was five."

It was my turn to be surprised. And a tad bit guilty. "Oh," I said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Andi. It's not like you knew," he replied, giving me a small smile.

"My mom died when I was seven," I said without thinking, my voice barely above a whisper. A silence settled between us. The cold, heavy, and yet strangely empty type of silence that covers a person when they're remembering things that are better left alone. Suddenly, the day seemed unusually cool.

"How?" Smalls asked quietly, breaking the silence, and I wasn't offended. Usually people ask out of morbid curiosity. It wasn't like they had been through the same thing or anything – they just wanted the gory details. Smalls actually understood, though. He had been through the same thing, and somehow, it felt safe telling him these things.

"Cancer," I answered quietly. I looked down, and thought a few moments, before looking back at Smalls and asking, "What about your dad?"

"Auto accident," Smalls answered back, giving me a sad smile.

I nodded knowingly, despite the fact that my mom had passed from cancer. Maybe different things had caused their deaths, but both were swift, ruthless, and left us gaping in shock, trying to grasp to the pieces of our new lives. Both left us with only one parent, and a huge hole to try and hopelessly fill. Despite not knowing much about him, I felt that Smalls and I were connected through our loss. That was something that not even Benny and I had.

Reaching my hand out slowly, I offered it to him. He stared at it, before slowly reaching out his own small hand and taking mine in his. We sat there in silence, hand in hand, and shared each other's loss, grief, and pain, if only for a few minutes. Somehow, having someone who understood made it that much easier to deal with.

Finally seeing Benny approaching in the distance with Ham, I looked to Smalls. I gave him a smile that I hoped told him how thankful I was to have someone else who really understood what I was going through. He gave me the same smile, before finally releasing my hand. I guess it was then that I knew Smalls would be one of my best friends for the rest of my days.

* * *

Hearing shouts, I looked out at the field. Sure enough, Yeah-Yeah and Squints had finally arrived with the baseball.

Benny immediately swooped in to question them.

"Where you guys been? We've been waiting here forever already!"

Passing the ball to Benny, Yeah-Yeah responded nonchalantly, "Ah, Squints was pervin' a dish."

"Shut up. I wasn't."

"Yeah, yeah, you were!" Yeah-Yeah was quick to counter, his voice getting louder. "Your tongue was hangin' out of your head, and you was swoonin'!" He carried on in a mockingly dreamy voice, "Oh, Wendy Peffercorn, my darling lover girl!"

Ah, I couldn't help but think to myself. Wendy Peffercorn - with her curvaceous, womanly figure, luscious, blonde hair, and heavy lidded, grey eyes – had always been a favorite with the boys. It wasn't just my boys either; it was every boy who had ever gone to the swimming pool while she was on duty as the lifeguard. In her red swimsuit, she was pretty much irresistible.

Squints had fallen for her pretty hard though. I still remember going to the pool about 3 years ago, and seeing her for the first time. The guys were totally smitten. However, when the spell had faded from most of their minds a few hours later, Squints was still dreaming about what it would be like to kiss those red lips. From then on, he was always quietly plotting. We all gave him heck for it – I mean, Wendy Peffercorn kissing Squints? No. There was no way she ever would. Yeah-Yeah gave him the hardest time though – I always thought it was maybe because he too had a crush on Ms. Peffercorn.

Squints was having none of it today, though. In a voice that portrayed his foul mood, he said with finality, "I said, shut up. I got a lot of things on my mind."

With that, he plopped down on the bench. Maybe it was he heat that was getting to him. I mean, he wasn't usually the happiest of us, but his mood wasn't this stormy, normally. I watched him pull out a soda, and the heat was back on my mind. All of us were sweating like crazy, and we weren't even in the sun.

Reaffirming this, Ham complained to Benny, "This pop ain't working, Benny. I'm baking like a toasted cheeser! It's so hot here!"

Going back to his usual self, Squints sanely argued, "It's 150 degrees out there. You can't play baseball. You have to call it for the day."

The guys all started loudly agreeing then, begging for Benny to call it quits. He looked none too happy about it, too.

"Vote then!" Benny said, trying one last tactic to keep the team at the sandlot. "Anybody who wants to be… A "can't hack it" pantywaist… Who wears their mama's bra, raise your hand!"

We only had to look at each other's sweaty, red faces to make our unanimous decision. All hands shot up. I had to think about the statement at first, since there was mention of "wearing your mama's bra," but I decided I shouldn't dig too deep. My hand quickly joined the rest.

"Fine, fine, fine!" Benny said, exasperated, knowing he had lost. "Be like that. So what're we going to do?"

A creepy laugh escaped Yeah-Yeah's mouth, and soon he was looking at each of us. I wasn't quite sure what he was thinking – I didn't trust that smile. The boys ended up shouting their answer, and I must admit, it surprised me enough that I jumped.

"Scam Pool Honeys!"

Ah yes, I knew what that was – ogling girls in swimsuits. Judging by Small's face, he was a little confused. One of the guys or me would catch him up in a little bit. Today though, we were heading to the town pool.

* * *

For the longest time, my swimsuit had been a sky blue one piece. I had never cared that it wasn't "figure flattering," or that it "hardly showed any skin," because who went to the pool to show off? I went there to swim, and as far as I was concerned, I had a perfectly good swimsuit. At least I felt that way until I allowed Taylor to drag me out shopping in March.

She had been looking for something – maybe a perfume, or necklace – when she happened to spot the rack of swimsuits. Freshly put out, there weren't many options to choose from, but Taylor had to see them all. After she had picked out her favorite – a little two piece swimsuit that was pale green gingham - she began questioning me about my own. As soon as the word 'one piece' left my mouth though, she attacked.

"Andi," she had scolded, "You're going into high school soon. You need to switch over to a bikini."

"I don't want to," I complained. "They're so…" I eyed a skimpier red one, before finishing with, "Well, they show too much."

Taylor had only rolled her eyes at me, and then mumbled under her breath, "Prude."

I'm not sure why, but I was insulted. Like, my-cheeks-were-burning-insulted and being me, I took that as a challenge. I had grabbed the first two-piece I could find and marched over to the dressing room to make sure it fit. After I had put it on, I had Taylor look me over.

"There? Are you happy now?" I asked, my arms crossed tightly across my chest. It was so cold in the dressing rooms.

I swear, Taylor began to gush. "Oh, Andi, it looks so good! And yellow is a great color on you too, it works really well with your complexion. Though I suppose a light blue would bring out your eyes. Or a red would look really nice against you hair… Ah, forget it, just stick with the yellow."

And so, before I knew it, I was out the door, brand new bikini in hand. Needless to say, I never went shopping with Taylor again. I was glad I hadn't, too. Seeing the bikini on for the first time in months, I was beginning to regret ever buying it. How was I going to wear this in front of the guys?

Flustered, I looked at my appearance in the mirror, while running my hands nervously up and down my slight, usually hidden curves. The two-piece covered a lot… Less than I had remembered. Or perhaps I had fleshed out a little? I fondled the little white ruffles that framed the top half of the swimsuit. It was yellow, with little white polka dots. The thing tied behind my neck, and I guess it would have looked cute, just not on me. The bottom half of the bikini came up to my belly button, and it had the same design – a perfect reflection of the top half.

Gazing in the mirror some more, it was as if I had switched bodies with someone. I decided to take the moment to figure out what had changed about me. My breasts were still small – nearly nonexistent, really – but they were proportionate to my figure. I ran my hands slowly down my trim waist, and to my hips, noticing how they were beginning to flesh out. I hadn't even realized they were there, what with all the big clothing I wore. The way I usually dressed, I looked pretty flat. I looked like one of the guys. In this thing there was no denying I was a girl. The proof lay in my newly forming pear shape, for everyone to see.

I was not walking to the pool like this, and once we were there, I was just going to get into the water as quick as possible. The less the guys saw, the better. Before turning away for the final time, I noticed how nice my hair happened to look. It was finally behaving, and here I was heading off to the pool where it wouldn't last. I couldn't help but decide that my hair must hate me. I began pulling on some shorts when there was a knock at my door.

"Yeah?" I called, thinking it was going to be Jimmy or Todd.

Instead, I heard Benny's voice. "Andi, are you almost ready?"

"Oh, um," I stammered, tugging on my shorts even faster, and grabbing a big sweater off the top of the pile of clothes. "Yes!"

I threw the sweater on, and was glad to see that it covered everything. I knew I was going to hate the walk to the pool, but I didn't care – the guys were not seeing me in this swimsuit. Flinging open the door, I took a quick step out and bumped right into Benny's chest.

"Woah!" I cried, surprised. I hadn't been expecting him to be standing so close. He began laughing at me, while grabbing my shoulders to steady me.

"Sorry," he apologized, giving me a quick smile.

"That's okay," I said, disorientated by his height. He was getting taller and taller. He looked pretty darn good too, in just a plain white t-shirt and his dark colored swim trunks. "Who let you in?"

"Oh, Jimmy did," he answered, "He said you were still getting ready. I didn't think it could be true, but it was."

Benny gave me a look then, and began to shake his head.

"Andi, you're going to cook in that thing."

"No, I'm not," I insisted.

"Yeah, you are. Why didn't you just throw on some shorts, like you usually do?"

"My room's just a little chilly is all," I said, avoiding his gaze.

"Andi," he scolded, using that tone that I hate.

I sighed, and threw my arms in the air. Scanning the hallway to make sure no one was looking, I grabbed Benny's hand and dragged him back into my room, before closing the door. Benny was my best friend – I supposed I could tell him what was going on.

Benny gave me an odd look, before asking, "Okay, Andi. What is it?"

"Uh," I hesitated, before finally spitting it out as best I could, "I'm sort of having a… Wardrobe malfunction?"

"What? You mean like your swimsuit ripped?" Benny asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"No, no," I said quickly, shaking my head, "It's… I got a new one when I was with Taylor a while back, and now I don't think it looks so great. I just – I don't want the boys to see me in it!"

Benny started laughing, much to my dismay. Hopping on my bed, casually, he rested his head on his hand, before saying, "Okay. Show it to me."

"No!" I cried out, absolutely horrified. Benny was the last person I wanted seeing this.

"Andi, c'mon. I'm your best friend. How bad could it be?" Benny asked, using his soothing voice to try and reassure me. Unfortunately it wasn't working. I could already feel my heart rate begin to accelerate.

"Absolutely not."

"Andi."

"No."

"Andi, we ain't got all day," Benny said, exasperated. I supposed he was right. I sighed in defeat, but not before giving him a slight glare.

"Turn around first."

"Fine," he replied, throwing his hands up in the air, before rolling over. Slowly, I peeled off my shorts, and then removed the sweater. I felt much better, truth be told – it was pretty stuffy in my room. Still, I could feel the blush spread across my cheeks, and even down my neck.

Clearing my throat, I managed to get out, "Okay… You can look, I guess."

He rolled to his side in a second, a huge grin on his face, or at least, until he saw me. Immediately, he froze, and the grin was gone. To say he looked shocked would have been the understatement of the year. We locked eyes, and all of a sudden, the room felt fifteen degrees hotter. I already knew I was tomato red, but I was shocked to see Benny's face even begin to turn a dusty rose color.

Watching his Adams apple bob up and down as he took a big gulp, I couldn't stand it anymore – I hunched over, crossed my arms, and shoved my hands under my armpits. In an instant, Benny had averted his gaze, and was trying to look at anything but me. One awkward silence later, Benny finally tried speaking. His voice cracked a bit, to both of our embarrassment.

"So… Where's the malfunction?"

"The whole thing is the malfunction."

"I don't know Andi, it's kinda… doing what it's supposed to do."

I nearly choked. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"Well, no! No, not like that! Jesus, Andi," Benny exclaimed quickly, jumping up off my bed.

"I knew this was a bad idea," I grumbled, looking at the ceiling - anything so that I didn't have to meet Benny's gaze. This felt like the single most humiliating moment of my life.

"Well… I'm no expert or nothing," Benny said, slowly. "But, I'd say it looks good, Andi."

"Benny, it's ridiculous," I responded, opening my arms up again, so we could look at the ruffled, polka dot mess.

He finally cracked a smile. "Maybe you think so, but that's what all the girls at the pool wear. You'll fit in fine."

"Not with the guys," I reminded him.

"Right," he agreed reluctantly. He gazed off into space a moment and I could tell he was problem solving. Well, I was a few steps ahead of him.

"Look, Ben, I just won't go. This thing is way too embarrassing."

"What? No!" He complained, coming to. "You're coming with. Um... Okay! How 'bout this? I'll meet you outside the girl's dressing room, and we'll walk to the pool together? You can hide behind me, or whatever. The guys won't notice a thing once we're in the water."

"Well… I guess."

"No one will see you. I promise."

I snorted humorlessly, but I did manage my first smile. "You can't promise that."

"Well, no," he admitted. "But you'll look weirder hiding behind me. Honestly Andi, you'd fit right in with all the other girls. Maybe even make some jealous – you have a very nice…" He hesitated, searching for the right word, "Figure." He bit his lower lip nervously, before making a sort of hourglass shape in the air with his hands – I couldn't help but laugh.

"What a bunch of bull," I said, grabbing my shorts to pull on.

"Seriously, I didn't realize how… girlish you had gotten."

I rolled my eyes. "You start treating me differently and I'll break your arm."

Relaxing, he sat back down on my bed. "No worries. I won't start going easy on you just 'cause we can prove you're a girl now."

"Good."

* * *

Baseball was life for Benny. He played it every chance he got, and I knew that if he was given the chance, he would skip meal, sleep, and even bathroom breaks, just so he could keep playing. It was torture for him to be doing anything else. On days like those though, where the valley turned into its own little desert, he didn't mind going to the pool too much.

I had long since inched my way out of the girls' dressing room, but with no sign of the guys – specifically Benny, who was supposed to save me from my swimsuit disaster – I was left hovering just outside the doors. With women moving in and out, I found myself constantly in the way. I was too fearful to go more than a few feet from the door, though, so I reluctantly remained.

After about 5 minutes – though it felt like forever – every last one of the guys came spilling out of the boys' dressing rooms down the way. All but Ham, who proceeded to walk towards the sunbathing women, jumped into the pool with a large splash that didn't please too many of the older folk. Well, that was great and all, but what was I supposed to do? Hoping that Benny would notice me stranded by the dressing rooms, and at the same time wishing I didn't have to be so dependent on him getting me to the pool, I began anxiously hopping from foot to foot.

Finally, I spotted Benny climbing out of the pool. He had a big smile on that was sort of contagious. Without a word, and before I could thank him though, he took my hand in his wet one, and started pulling me towards the water.

"Ready?" He asked, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Just get me to the water."

"Alright then!" He turned his face to me, so that he could give me a grin. "One, two…"

"Three," I mumbled, before quickly clamping my hand to my nose, and jumping together into the water.

Being under water was sort of cool, especially after jumping in. The sensation of all the bubbles running up my skin, and all the blue, and the quiet… I wouldn't have minded hanging out down there for a few moments. Benny still had my hand though, and I could feel him tugging, so I followed him to the surface.

We popped up right next to the guys, who were so distracted wrestling with one another, they didn't even notice.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

He gave me a another happy smile, before swimming over to Kenny, and dunking him. I smiled. Everything was as it should be. I could rest at ease now, knowing nobody had seen me. I would have gone back to thinking about water, had the guys not gone completely still.

Following their gazes, I saw what the fuss was about: none other than lovely Wendy Peffercorn. Sitting atop her lifeguard tower, her blond hair was in a perfect ponytail, her cheeks were flushed from the sun, and to top it all off, she was rubbing some sort of lotion all over her neck and legs. I was sure that at the pool, she was every boys dream, and every girls nightmare.

"Ah man," Benny said quietly, completely mesmerized.

"Yeah, yeah, too cool."

"She don't know what she's doin'."

"She don't know what she's doin'."

"Yeah, she does," Ben told the guys, as if he were some kind of woman guru. "She knows exactly what she's doing."

I couldn't help but snort. Some of the guys turned to look at me quizzically, and I waved my hand nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened. Squints eyes were still on Wendy.

Peeling off his glasses, he began rubbing the fog from them, while mumbling, "I've swam here every summer of my adult life, and every summer, there she is," he put his glasses back on, continuing, "Lotioning, oiling, oiling, lotioning. Smiling. Smiling!"

He almost seemed to be going into some sort of weird trance. Well, I wasn't surprised – It was Squints after all. But still, this girl was doing crazy things to Squints mind.

"I can't take this no more!" He finally shouted. "Move!"

Shoving Smalls, Kenny, and Yeah-Yeah out of the way, he began to paddle his way towards the edge of the pool. Most of the guys were still ogling at Wendy, but Smalls and I watched as Squints hopped out of the pool. Dripping and looking scrawnier than usual, he turned to give a goofy smile to an oblivious Wendy. Walking towards the deep end of the pool, alarms began going off in my mind. If memory served correct, Squints wasn't the best swimmer.

"What's wrong with him?" Smalls finally asked, stirring the rest of the guys from their trance. At that point, all eyes were on Squints.

"Three summers of this – I guess he's finally snapped," Kenny replied, chuckling quietly under his breath.

At this point, Squints was stepping onto the diving board. He was dripping, and from where we were, I could see his legs shaking like crazy, but he still had that goofy grin plastered to his face.

"I don't know," Yeah-Yeah said, his voice a bit squeakier than usual, "But that's the deep end, and Squints can't swim!"

Despite the fact that we all pretty much knew what Squints was doing at that point, we all froze to where we stood. We could only watch in horror as Squints moved, still shaking, down the diving board. Pausing by the end, Squints looked to Wendy and waved shyly. Amazingly, she spotted him – or perhaps she had already been watching – and wiggled her dainty finger back at him. Smiling hugely, Squints plugged his nose with his forefinger and thumb, and proceeded to jump into the deep end of the pool.

In a flash, we were all moving. There was shouting and water flying everywhere as I struggled to get to the edge of the pool, the guys a few seconds ahead of me. Why was it that whenever someone had to get out of the water, it suddenly felt like some sticky, heavy substance that wasn't willing to let go?

Finally reaching the edge, I felt the water release, and I was out. Trailing behind, I raced after the guys as they ran as fast as the wet floor permitted over to the deep end of the pool. Gathering around the edge, I shoved through so that I could see the water. It was deep – Squints was just a shape.

"Somebody, help him!" Smalls voice rang out. Someone already was helping him though.

After what seemed to be far too long, none other than Wendy Peffercorn herself rose to the surface, with an unconscious Squints lying limp in her arms. A couple official looking men pushed through to pull Squints and Wendy out of the pool. One of the men laid Squints flat on his back.

Brushing them off quickly, Wendy snapped, "Never mind, never mind!"

Grabbing Squints face, Wendy lowered her face to his and, get this: kissed him. Well, at least that's what I thought she was doing, until she rested her ear to his chest to check for a heartbeat. The words "mouth to mouth resuscitation" ran through my mind, and I thought back to my health class in 6th grade. Yes, this was definitely what my teacher had been talking about.

"Come on, Squints, come on!"

"You can do it! Pull through, bud!"

"Come on, man!"

"Yeah, yeah, he looks pretty crappy…"

"Oh god, he looks like a dead fish."

Resting her head to Squints chest, Wendy searched for his heartbeat for what felt like the umpteenth time. It was then though that we saw it – Squints eyes parted just slightly, and his mouth stretched out to a toothy, awkward grin. Wendy, not having seen what had just happened, frowned to herself before placing her mouth back on Squints. And before she could escape, Squints was clutching her face, and really, truly, this time: kissing her.

Of course, it only lasted a few moments. Wendy managed to tear Squints away, and practically screeched, "Little pervert!"

"Oh man, he's in deep shit!"

Yanking him up by the arm, Wendy began to drag Squints towards the gate, the boys and I in tow. There was so much shouting on the boys' part, but I guess when Squints had grabbed Wendy, I kinda connected the dots. Personally, I was coming down from the shock that Squints had actually risked his life for a kiss.

"And stay out!" Wendy shouted to us, after tossing Squints out the gates.

With that, everyone began racing the dressing rooms, where the guys' clothes were being tossed out the door by the other kids who still had rights to the pool. The girl's dressing room was on the other side – I realized with some dread that I would have to sneak back later.

Struggling to pull on their shoes and shirts in the excitement of what Squints had done proved difficult for the boys. They were tripping, and stumbling, and over the shouts and cheers, I could hear Ham shouting to the rest of us, "Hey, you guys, he planned that! Squints planned that!"

Of course he had, I couldn't help but think to myself. I wasn't sure whether to feel irritated that we had been kicked out of the pool forever or somewhat … I don't know, prideful? Happy for my friend, despite the fact that Wendy would never speak to him again? I was drawn back into reality by the uncanny silence.

"What the hell are you wearing, Andi?" Ham asked in disbelief, his face scrunched up in disgust. It was only then that I remembered my swimsuit, and it was too late to hide it now. After Ham's comment, the rest of the guys turned to stare in bewildered shock. Turning to Benny for assistance, I was greeted by the sight of him looking off elsewhere, while rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Somehow, I felt a little betrayed.

Turning back, I huffed, "Screw you guys," before turning on my heel and marching onward. Irritated out of my mind, and completely mortified, I was furious to see that the guys were still waiting on Squints, who had his face smashed up to the chain-link fence, with this sad, puppy dog look on his face. God, he could be so melodramatic.

"Squints, let's-" I began angrily, but I stopped myself. Not only was Wendy Peffercorn – the girl who Squints had just totally violated – smiling directly at him, she was waving, too. Those precious, little waves that we knew only certain guys were lucky enough to get. Squints, who was ecstatic of course, began waving like crazy.

"I can't believe it!" I couldn't help but exclaim. "She stilled waved to him after all that? She even smiled!"

"Ah, let him have his moment, Andi," Benny replied, clapping a hand on my back.

Maybe Wendy had seen the humor in what Squints had done. Personally, I wouldn't have ever gotten over it, and I wasn't quite sure how she managed to still smile at him. As far as I was concerned, any tiny shred of hope Squints had at wooing the lifeguard had been destroyed. I supposed she would forget all about this and Squints though, and that would be that. Wendy would stop giving Squints that beautiful, full lipped smile whenever we passed.

I was wrong, though. Wendy never stopped.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Ahem. I just wanted to say that we are finally past the halfway marker for this story. Only by a little, but still. I'll take it. Also, things start picking up from here on out, so I think the chapters to come are going to be exciting and interesting! I look forward to writing them. Anyway, enjoy chapter 11!**

Chapter 11

If the smoky atmosphere, people eating at picnic tables out in the street, and fireworks didn't sound the alert, the 4th of July had arrived. It was always an exciting day for me and the guys – it was the one time a year where we could have a full game past 9 o' clock, because the fireworks made it bright enough to actually see what was going on. We never missed it.

Since we could get together later, we had skipped our usual Sandlot meeting time, giving us all a chance to actually sleep in. It had been nice to spend the day not doing a single thing, but 9 was now fast approaching. I raced around the house, searching for my mitt which I had seemed to misplace.

"Hey Todd?" I called, peering from around the corner into the kitchen. "Have you seen my glove?"

He thought about it a second before asking, "Have you checked by the front door?"

Sure enough, when I looked behind me towards the front door, there lay my glove on the floor. Running over, I picked it up off the ground. Before I left though, I decided I might be considerate and at least ask Todd what his Independence Day plans consisted of. Walking back into the kitchen, he lifted his face from the newspaper and caught my gaze.

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," I said, shrugging. "Just wanted to ask you what you, and Jimmy, and dad were doing tonight."

"Well," he started heavily, turning back to his paper. "Jimmy and I are just going to go out, and eat, and watch fireworks."

"Really?" I asked, completely caught off guard by how quiet their plans were. "Neither of you has a girlfriend you could spend it with?"

Todd only rolled his eyes.

"What?" I said defensively. "I thought at least Jimmy would have one."

"Nope," Todd replied. "It's just the two of us. As for dad, I think he's got plans with somebody."

That really floored me.

"Plans?" I nearly gasped. "Dad never has plans to do anything!"

Todd shrugged. "He does tonight."

"With who?"

"It's not important."

"Oh, come on!"

"Hey Andi," Todd said looking up from his paper. He was clearly annoyed. "Aren't you late for something?"

Looking to the clock on the wall, I realized it was five past nine. I had to get going.

"Fine, we'll talk later!" I conceded, running away from the kitchen and towards the front door.

"Yeah, sure we will," came his quiet reply.

**&#%!*#&(_#&# &*^#%$%&*()**

The sun had sunk below the mountains, and the sky had turned a dusty orange color that faded into blue. As the guys and I raced through the neighborhood, weaving our way in between tables and fireworks, I couldn't help but notice how pretty it was. Somehow, everything always came together on the night of the 4th.

As we finally made it to the Sandlot, huge fireworks of every color began to go off in the distance behind us. It was mesmerizing, and made it hard to focus. Benny never seemed to get distracted by them, though.

"Okay, base up, guys," Benny commanded. Turning to Smalls and myself, he said a bit quieter, "You guys can hang out in left center. I don't want anyone to be excluded, but just figure out a plan so you guys aren't running into each other, okay?"

Smalls and I nodded our heads in agreement. It would be kinda strange trying to share the space with each other, but I figured we could work out some sort of system.

"Shall we?" Smalls asked, turning to me with one of those shy smiles he gave everybody.

"Certainly," I replied (somewhat mocking), and we began jogging over to left center.

We arranged ourselves about a yard apart from each other.

"So, Smalls," I began, figuring out a plan in my head, "You take the first one, and I'll take the second. If you miss it, which I doubt you will, I'll come in."

"Sounds good!" Smalls answered happily in his chirpy voice. I grinned back, before turning to focus in. The game was about to begin.

Kenny prepared his pitch, and Benny tried a few practice swings. The tension was beginning to build.

"Okay, hit it!" Small shouted excitedly beside me.

"Yeah, yeah, come on Benny!"

Staring Benny down, Ken wound up, and heaved the ball as hard as he could. It soared to Benny, who hit it dead on with a huge _crack_. Just at that exact moment, fireworks began going off behind us. They were huge, and probably hundreds of feet in the sky. With a bunch of loud bangs, they exploded into reds, blues, oranges, greens, and whites. They were really something.

Forcing myself back down to earth, I noticed that the game had all but stopped. Every one of the guys had paused mid-game to watch the sky light up with the magnificent fireworks show. Well, all except for Benny who was busy scoring an effortless homerun. He had run right past us all, completely unnoticed.

As he leisurely jogged into home, he turned around to stare at the rest of us, before shouting, "C'mon guys, we've got a game to play!"

**$%&^&*(*(^^$%#$^)(***)^(^$$# %$^&(*&^**

Around 11:30, the guys began drifting back home, one by one, until it was just me and Benny. We spent our time quietly throwing a ball back and forth. Benny didn't do too much throwing, so it was more to my benefit that we were practicing it. I had pretty much mastered the stance at this point – I just had to get more power behind my arm. Pulling back as far as was not ridiculous, I chucked the ball at Ben with all my might. He easily caught it.

"It's weird…" Benny mused out loud, looking over the baseball with a small smile.

I watched him for a moment, before giving in, and asking, "What's weird?"

He shrugged, and then tossed the baseball back to me. "We're gonna be high schoolers. It's just… I dunno, it came fast is all."

I supposed he was right – it did feel like just yesterday that we were meeting for the first time. I threw the ball back to him, considering his words.

"So," he began slowly, catching the ball effortlessly, "Do you know what you wanna do?"

I had to think about the meaning to his question at first. "What do you mean?" I asked, slowly.

"Like, what do you want to do with your life? I guess career wise."

I couldn't help but freeze up – I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Should I have known?

"Uh, I guess I hadn't thought much about it," I admitted. Changing the subject quickly, I asked, "What about you?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted.

"Wait, scratch that, and lemme answer for you."

"Okay," he grinned, before passing the ball back.

"You want to play baseball," I answered, catching the ball. "You want to play in the big leagues."

"Yeah…"

The hesitation in his voice made me look up. It wasn't like Benny to be so unsure of something that had to do with baseball. Baseball was his life.

"What'da'ya mean, "Yeah"?" I asked, sharply. "You sound all uncertain. What's that about?"

"Andi," he mumbled, looking at his foot which was tapping away at the dusty ground. He looked to my face after a minute, and I could see the dread in his eyes. "What if I'm not good enough?"

"What?" I practically shouted. Calming myself, I decided now probably wasn't the time to just brush his fears off as stupid. It was obvious that Benny was revealing a side to me that he didn't like showing to others. It was obvious that he was even uncomfortable talking about it with me. I needed to force myself to be calm and insightful – to give good advice, and be a listener. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

"So…" I tried again, slowly gathering my thoughts. "Why do you think you're not good enough?" Yeah, the shrink roll seemed a good one to work with.

He snorted, and rolled his eyes, giving me a look of exasperation. It appeared we were both going to have trouble with being patient with one another.

"Don't give me that look," I chided softly. I sat down, and patted the ground beside me. Now was not the time to be distracted by ball throwing. "Why do you think that?"

He heaved a big sigh, before ambling over and plopping down next to me. His eyebrows were furrowed.

"You're gonna give yourself wrinkles doing that," I joked softly, poking his forehead. My mission was kinda successful, he cracked a small smile.

"It's just," he began before letting his worries flow, "there are so many people better than me out there. Here, I don't have to think about that. But what about when I get into high school? There will be guys trying out for baseball that I've never met or played against, and they could be so much better than me. What if I'm not really as good as I think I am? What if-"

"Benny," I broke in, trying to be gentle as possible. "Calm down. Take a deep breath."

He did. I took a moment to collect my thoughts. He was so worried about being the best. I was surprised to be honest – I thought that his skill in baseball was one of the few things that Benny never questioned. Not that he questioned a lot; he was a pretty relaxed guy, but… I just didn't think he was so unsure of himself. It certainly didn't show when we were at the Sandlot.

So, was Benny really a good baseball player? Duh, I couldn't help but think to myself. So then, what made him good? What was it that made his talent shine above the rest?

"Benny," I started, a slow smile spreading across my face. "You breathe, eat, and sleep baseball. Your room is like a secret shrine to the game. It's your passion. I mean, you love it right?"

At this point he was looking me in the eyes. Earnestly, he replied, "More than anything. Baseball is life."

I couldn't help it – there was a tiny part of my heart that ached when he said that. But I had already known that Benny's heart was preoccupied with baseball. So, I pushed on.

"That's what's going to get you far," I answered honestly, giving him the best reassuring smile I could.

"You aren't bullshitting me?" He asked quietly, his hazel eyes still boring into mine.

"No."

"Thanks, Andi."

"Of course."

We both sat in a contemplative silence for a while after that. I really hadn't thought about the future much, and to be honest, that scared me. The idea of even going to high school in just a few months had me anxiety ridden. The future was full of questions and concerns – what if the guys and I ended up going our separate ways? What if they make new friends and I'm left alone? What if Benny meets a girl, and falls in love, and, and –

I shook myself. I wouldn't think about that. I couldn't. It hurt too much. But then again, had I ever given Benny reason to think that I liked him? Had I ever dropped any hints? No. I had just given up – decided that he was too far out of my reach, despite the fact that he was the one person I saw nearly every day. I had decided that he would either find someone else, because he could, or he'd stick with baseball the rest of his days. I had given up, because I felt like I was the closest I'd ever get to him – his best friend – and I didn't want to mess that up.

When had I become like that though? I never just gave up on anything, and yet with Benny, I immediately deemed myself unworthy and moved on, even though I didn't know if that was really the case. This was pathetic! I at least needed to try.

Suddenly, I felt this sensation building in my vocal chords. I wanted to tell him so badly. I had to. It didn't matter if he rejected me – at least I would know his answer, and I could die satisfied that I had at least had the guts to try. Quickly, I turned to Benny. I opened my mouth –

"Hey," Benny said with a smile, not knowing he was totally cutting off one of the hardest things I would have to say, "We may as well head back. It's pretty late."

"Oh," I said, my voice coming out all breathy, as if I had been holding in air for the last two minutes. "Yeah, l-let's head out."

The moment had been ruined. My focus was lost, and I didn't have enough courage to try again that night. I wanted to punch Benny in the ribs for interrupting, and making things so difficult for me, but I knew it wasn't really his fault. He didn't know the effect he had on me.

Standing up, I brushed myself off hurriedly, before stumbling to the road and down the street. It was smoky still from the fireworks, and the smell made it hard to walk straight. I could hear Benny calling after me, and running to catch up.

"Andi," he said, putting a hand to my shoulder when he had finally caught up. "Slow down, Andi! There's no hurry. Hey, are you alright? Your face is kinda red."

He was totally oblivious. I wasn't sure whether I was angry or thankful for that.

"Red? You don't say," I mumbled, raising a hand to my face in hopes of hiding it.

"Yeah! Hey, wait a minute, sit down for a sec," he said, clutching my shoulder just a tad bit tighter. "You're kinda stumbling. I don't want you to faint on me or anything."

"Sit down here?" I said a bit flabbergasted. Not only were we very close to our houses now, we were also in the middle of the street. Sure, it would be bad if I fainted. It would be worse if we were hit by a car.

"It's okay, Andi," he reassured, reading my thoughts, "It's late. No cars are gonna be out this time of night."

I'm not sure why… But with the stress of having almost told Benny that I loved him, getting cut off, and him still being clueless, I sorta cracked. I needed to do something lighthearted to take my mind off of all this heavy stuff. I didn't want to feel so weighed down, and knowing that I had the street all to myself – which I could lay down on, dance, just walk wherever – gave me a sort of freeing feeling. The kind that I needed right then.

Before I knew what was happening, I was chuckling. Slowly, those turned into little giggles, which progressed into a laughing fit so huge, my whole frame was shaking. Benny watched me with timid confusion and curiosity. My laughter must have been contagious though, because Ben's mouth began to stretch out in a wide smile that showed all his pearly, white teeth.

"What?" He asked, beginning to chuckle a bit himself. "Something on my face?"

Trying to calm down, I managed to gasp, "No!" My fit of giggles continued, and my stomach began to ache.

"Then what?" He asked, still smiling.

"I… I don't know," I answered honestly, calming my laughing while wiping tears from my eyes. "Hey!" I said suddenly, "You know what I wanna do? I want to spin!"

And so I did. I stretched my arms out, and began twirling further into the street, getting dizzier by the moment. I could hear Benny laughing now.

"You're really weird, you know that Andi?" I could hear him calling after me.

"That's cool, Benjamin."

Finally, I had spun so much that I had to sit down. Everything was spinning and running into each other - throwing up was not a part of the plan. I vaguely thought I saw Benny moving towards me, but that just made it worse, so I laid down. Asphalt wasn't the most comfortable, but I'd take it. With my eyes closed, I could feel my mind beginning to right itself, and after a few moments, I began to feel better.

"Andi?" I heard Benny's quiet voice ask. "Are you okay?"

I kept my eyes closed, but gave him a small smile and nodded, just to reassure him. Resting my hands on my belly, I laid like that for several more minutes. I could feel Benny sit down beside me, but he didn't say anything. He probably knew that I was trying to regain my composure.

Finally, I decided I was okay enough to open my eyes, and I was greeted with the most beautiful sight. Hundreds of thousands of little lights across a deep blue background glittered and glowed. It was so rare for me to notice them all, and an even better treat I realized, to be lying on my back while watching them. It was almost disorientating how many there were.

I released a long, "Wooow," before smacking Benny's arm a few times, and saying, "Benny, Benny, you have to lie down! The stars look amazing!"

"Okay," he replied simply, shrugging his shoulders. He joined me, and we lied arm to arm on the asphalt.

Following in my steps, Benny let out a low whistle, before agreeing, "Wow. That's really something."

"Isn't it?" I agreed quietly, before continuing, "Look how they glow. They have that pretty way of lighting up…"

We remained like that a while, just staring at the stars. I hoped that maybe we'd see a falling star, but no such luck. Benny shifted beside me, and I realized that our heads were nearly touching. It was nice being able to share this with him.

"I've got it!" Benny suddenly said, sitting up. Surprised, I sat up as well.

I looked at him questioningly before asking, "Got what?"

"Starshine!"

"Starshine?" I repeated, confused by why he was suddenly saying things like that. Well, we had been staring at the stars, but still.

"Yeah," Benny said excitedly as if I should know what the hell he was talking about. "Remember? I was going to figure out what it was about your eyes? Well that's it! Starshine! They're filled with it!"

I stared at him shocked. I did remember now – the night I had been crying about my mom, and Benny had stayed the night with me. Realizing that he had still been thinking about that weeks later, I felt an immediate heat rise to my cheeks and I looked away to mask my true feelings.

I rolled my eyes and snorted, saying, "Benny, I think you mean starlight. Starshine isn't a word. And besides, it sounds girly."

"No, it's starshine. Like... You were just talking about how the stars have this way of lighting the sky around them? That's what's in your eyes."

I'd be lying if I said that the things he was saying weren't pulling on my heartstrings, but it was frustrating. I wasn't in the mood to talk about feelings anymore; I didn't want him to see how badly I was blushing. So as usual, I fought back.

"Still not a word. And still girly as hell."

"Since when has Hell been described as girly? And no," Benny began. "It's definitely starshine. Maybe it's girly, but I like my word better anyway." And with that, he jumped to his feet and began walking down the street.

"Hey!" I called, jumping to my feet as quick as I could, and running to catch up. "What was that about?"

"I dunno," Benny called from over his shoulder. "I just felt like moving."

"You're so weird, Benny."

"That's cool, Andrea."

I snorted. "Haha," I said sarcastically, knowing he had gotten me.

"Ready to head home?" Benny asked, beginning to walk backwards so that he could see me.

"Yeah," I grumbled reluctantly. "I guess it is pretty late."

"Lemme walk you to your door," Benny offered.

I knew he wanted to make sure I got home safe, but we were already pretty much at my front yard.

"Benny," I sighed, rolling my eyes, "We're here."

"Okay, okay. I'll watch you walk inside."

"Oh, give it a rest."

He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling none-the-less. He mumbled his defeat, and then came up to give me a goodbye hug. His arms wrapped around me, and I felt the safest I could ever hope to feel.

"Thanks Andi," I felt him say into my hair.

"For what?" I asked, and I couldn't help but laugh. What was the boy thanking me for now?

He thought about it a moment, before saying, "I guess for being my best friend."

I pulled back so I could look at him. "Well, I could thank you for the same thing!"

He gave me a big smile. I thought maybe he'd say his goodbyes, and then pull away after that, but he didn't. He just kept smiling, and staring at my face. Well, it was more like into my eyes. And very softly. Almost tenderly? My heart began speeding up in my chest.

"What?" I said, exhaling.

He shrugged, and finally looked away from my face. I could have been wrong – I mean, it was dark outside – but his face almost looked a little rosy.

"It's just," he said, sounding flustered, "Your eyes are really pretty. Like, really, really pretty. Starshine, you know? Um," he let his arms fall, and then stepped away. "I'm gonna go now, but this was fun. We should watch the stars some other time."

"Okay," I answered quickly, my voice lined with bewilderment.

"Bye, Andi," he said with a shy smile, before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking across the street to his own home. I watched his retreating figure, even after the door had closed behind him, in complete confusion. Benny wasn't usually so bashful in front of me – at least, he hadn't been since we first met.

Yet, despite the fact that it was confusing, I couldn't help but feel like something really good was going to happen. I wouldn't allow myself to speak it, or even think it, but maybe things were going the way I could only ever dream of them going. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help it – I hoped. Feeling light as a feather, I rushed up the steps to my house, and opened the unlocked door.

I was greeted by a very strange sight. Dad was out of the hole. His face was clean shaven, his hair was combed, and smoothed, and he was actually dressed fairly nice. He still had those dark bags under his eyes, but aside from that he looked normal. Strangest of all, he was smiling. Teeth and all.

My breathing halted when I saw his hand rested on the shoulder of a woman I had never seen. She looked to be about his age, maybe a little younger. Her hair was a pretty orange color, and her eyes were a soft brown. Freckles dotted her high cheek bones, and slender nose. The mysterious woman wore a simple, blue dress, and some low heels. She was very pretty.

I hated her.

They had been talking amiably before I barged in, but now my dad turned his smiling face to me.

"Hey Andi," he greeted. I didn't like how cheerful he was. "I'd like you to meet Cindy. Cindy, this is my daughter, Andrea."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Andrea," Cindy said in a sweet voice. She offered me a smile, and extended her delicate hand. "Your father has told me lots of good things about you."

I stared at her hand. I wasn't sure what to think of this, all I knew was that I didn't like it. I could hear my dad clear his throat, signaling me to do something.

"It's Andi," I finally mumbled, but I still didn't take her hand. Hesitantly, she lowered it.

"Andi," my father said cheerfully, though there was now a dangerous edge to it, "Cindy works at that little diner in town. I think you and the boys have stopped in there a few times."

"Yeah, I guess so," I answered, quietly. Louder, I asked, "May I be excused?"

I could tell dad was pissed at me – his expression had darkened considerably – but I had embarrassed him enough that he allowed me to leave. As I was reached the top of the staircase, I could hear him reassuring Cindy that I was, "just feeling tired." I snorted quietly to myself. No, I wasn't tired. I was angry, and I needed answers.

Walking to the end of the hall, I shoved open Jimmy's door, without knocking or anything. Jimmy was just lying on his back, staring at the ceiling like an idiot. He looked over to me questioningly, but didn't move from his spot.

"What, Andi?" He asked.

"You knew," I growled.

He turned away, a bit of a smirk on his face.

"Knew what?"

"You knew about this Cindy lady!" I said angrily, my voice rising. "Why didn't you tell me? How long have she and dad been-?"

"Whoa there, Andi," Jimmy said gently, "Yes, me and Todd knew. Dad met her a while ago. They're "dating," or whatever you call it for old people."

I couldn't say a word. Dating?

The smile fading from his lips, Jimmy said slowly and precisely, "Yes, Andi. Dad is moving on. It's time the rest of us did, too. Mom is dead, and she ain't coming back."


End file.
